Paul Newman

@shanaka86 We are using the reaper exactly as it should be used. They are expendable and being drawn down. We are getting our money's worth. Better to put a reaper drone in harms wally instead of a pilot

BREAKING: The United States has lost at least 16 MQ-9 Reaper drones over Iran since February 28, CBS News confirmed via U.S. officials. Iranian sources claim 24 or more. Eight have been lost since early April alone. At roughly $32 million per airframe, that is between $500 million and $770 million in hardware scattered across Iranian soil in six weeks. Here is the fact that should reframe the entire conversation about this war. The final MQ-9 Reaper was delivered to the Air Force in 2025. The production line is closed. General Atomics is no longer manufacturing the airframe. The USAF inventory stood at 230 aircraft before the war began, already in a phased retirement drawdown to 140 by 2035, because the Air Force’s own assessments concluded the Reaper cannot survive contested airspace against peer adversaries. Iran just confirmed that assessment at a rate of roughly three airframes per week. Sixteen confirmed losses from 230 is seven percent of the entire inventory consumed in six weeks. There is no surge production to replace them. The MQ-9B, the next-generation variant, does not begin deliveries until 2028. Every Reaper lost is subtracted from a fixed number that will never increase. The vulnerabilities are structural, not incidental. A radar cross-section of one to two square meters. A turboprop-driven silhouette visible to any modern radar. Cruise speed of 200 miles per hour, slow enough for a 1970s-era surface-to-air missile to intercept. Predictable ISR orbits, because persistent surveillance requires holding station over the same coordinates for hours. SATCOM data links relayed through Ramstein Air Base in Germany, vulnerable to Russian-supplied jamming systems Iran has deployed across its network. The Reaper was built for skies where nobody could shoot back. Iran can shoot back. The IRGC’s Mosaic Doctrine, activated when the February 28 strikes killed senior leadership, distributes air defense across 31 semi-autonomous provincial commands. Each operates its own layered network: Bavar-373 for high-altitude intercepts, S-300 variants for medium-range, short-range MANPADS for anything below the radar horizon. When U.S. strikes decapitated central command, these nodes did not collapse. They continued operating independently, exactly as designed. The system was built by studying the 2003 Iraq war, where centralized Iraqi air defense disintegrated under American precision strikes. Iran learned the lesson and built the opposite: a headless network that fights harder after losing its head. Hegseth said on April 8 that the United States had used only “a fraction of our strength.” That may be true in aggregate. But the Reaper is not replaceable with fractions. It is a finite inventory from a closed production line being consumed in a theater that was supposed to be its retirement exercise. The stealthier alternatives are not yet deployed at scale and the intelligence demands of a six-week air campaign over a country the size of Alaska leave no room for conservation. The MQ-9 Reaper killed Qasem Soleimani. It defined twenty years of American air dominance from Afghanistan to Yemen to Somalia. It was the platform that made war cheap, remote, and politically painless. A pilot in Nevada, a Hellfire over Kandahar, a target eliminated without a boot touching foreign soil. Its silent death over Iran is the sound of that era ending. Not because the technology failed, but because the environment it was designed for no longer exists, and the factory that built it no longer operates. open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans…

@AzatAlsalim Haha look at them running 🏃‍♀️

A driver of a vehicle in Switzerland ran over a pro-Hamas crowd that was blocking the road.

@ImBreckWorsham Haha you're an idiot

I'm not a military expert, but this does not appear to be us winning.

@commandersamrat Hahaha you dumbass.

I am waiting for morning sunrise and daylight to come in Iran today 🌞 Iran setup a strategic ambush to trap the forces of US coming to rescue the 2nd Weapons Systems Officer. It is going to be a big day with so many helicopters and aircrafts shot down carrying special forces conducting CSAR efforts to rescue the Weapons systems officer of the US Airforce F-15E jet🔥 Lot of images and videos will becoming in, and with daylight everything will be clear about the whole firefight that happened post midnight over Southern Iran 🇮🇷 🫡

@BabakTaghvaee1 That isn't an F15E ejection seat. Thats probably from an F4 phantom or F14 Tomcat

BREAKING: Unfortunately, I have bad news again. My sources now indicate that the chances of the pilot of the U.S. Air Force F-15E of the 494th Fighter Squadron—shot down in Iran yesterday—being alive are near zero. It appears he did not manage to eject and was likely still inside the aircraft at the moment of impact. The backseater, the Weapons Systems Operator, did eject but was seriously wounded, likely due to the low altitude of the ejection. The CSAR operations of the USAF to find pilot of the Strike Eagle in Iran have been ended. #OperationEpicFury #OperationLionsRoar

@ImBreckWorsham And that's exactly why we fired his ass.

An hour after announcing his resignation, the US Army Chief of Staff says: "A madman is about to lead the great US military to ruin."

@DismantleGovt @suzost You're a pussy. Not an American. Too stupid to appreciate your freedom

@suzost I'm from the US dumbass. I hate illegal terrorism and hate killing Iranian schoolgirls. I hate our bases abroad. Hate how much we spend on military whole we have homeless on our streets. I will NEVER support these OFFENSIVE wars. The American pilot was a terrorist.

Again if you are celebrating American servicemen being hit or killed you should leave America. You don't belong here. You are the enemy.

@bylaw8404 @HormuzLetter I saw that.

@HormuzLetter Centcom was lying this morning denying any aircraft going down.

BREAKING: Both crew members from the downed F-15E have been rescued from Iranian territory, according to sources familiar with the matter citing CENTCOM. The second rescue helicopter was hit by MANPADS fire during the extraction. Iran put a $60,000 bounty on the pilots, armed tribesmen searched the mountains, and shoulder-launched missiles were fired at the helicopters sent to find them. Both crew made it out.

@patriot_apranik @grok is this true?

You literally cannot make this up! The Islamic Republic’s military is a complete circus. An Iranian man shot down 5 drones using an antique hunting rifle. The regime's state TV immediately put him on the news and praised him as a national hero, thinking he shot down Israeli drones. Plot twist: They realized he actually shot down their OWN Iranian military drones! So the IRGC went back and arrested their new hero. 😂 These are the same clowns who claim they can fight the U.S. military. Absolute joke!

@ivankaupdate @Ustroopss @grok is this confirmed

@BabakTaghvaee1 @grok is this verified

BREAKING: According to CENTCOM, the second U.S. Air Force CSAR team sent into Iran to rescue the crew of the downed F-15E of the 494th Fighter Squadron has successfully located and rescued the second crew member. He ejected, survived the crash, and is now safe in Iraq. This is good news for the 48th Fighter Wing community at RAF Lakenheath—both crew members of the downed F-15E are now safe. Also, the crew members of the second HH-60W helicopter involved in the rescue operation of the second crew member, which was shot upon by means of MANPADS, are also safe. Left video below shows the second HC-130J involved in this operation over Khark Island and the right video shows the first one near Yasuj. #OperationEpicFury #OperationLionsRoar

@barthomas103 @CENTCOM @grok @grok was a US plane downed

@CENTCOM @grok was a us plane downed?

🚫 CLAIM: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it downed an "enemy" fighter jet over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. ✅ FACT: All U.S. fighter aircraft are accounted for. Iran's IRGC has made the same false claim at least half a dozen times.

@allenanalysis A pilot. Shut the fuck up. You are pleased with this news. You're a coward

🚨#BREAKING: Two nights ago Trump stood before the nation and said: “Iran’s Navy is gone. Their Air Force is in ruins. We are going to bring them back to the stone ages.” Tonight an American F-15 was shot down over Iran. US Special Forces are taking fire from Iranian tribes as they race to reach the crew. Iranian state TV just put a bounty on American pilots. The navy that was gone shot down an F-15. The air defenses that were destroyed targeted an American aircraft. The country that was defeated is offering rewards for American prisoners. Trump declared victory. Iran is hunting our pilots.

@Orlando71156528 Those are US planes dumbass

Mientras EEUU 🇺🇸 lanza misiles en Irán 🇮🇷, para acribillar escolares indefensas, China 🇨🇳 llega con ayuda ⛑️ humanitaria para el pueblo de Irán 🇮🇷. Esa es la gran diferencia.

@FurkanGozukara Our soldiers are itching to get into the fight! You have no idea how a US Marine thinks

BREAKING: US Marines and sailors are actively revolting. Troops in the 31st MEU and on warships headed to the Middle East are filing emergency Conscientious Objector claims to stop their deployment. The Pentagon is terrified as the ranks refuse to fight Trump's war.

@JamesTate121 Its called a "renovation". Relax sweetheart

Pictures have leaked showing Trump's destruction of the historic White House West Colonnade walkway.

@BernieSanders No Kings! Are we celebrating Trump tomorrow for taking out 2 of the world's WORST dictators???

Tomorrow, millions of Americans will be joining No Kings rallies. We will be saying NO to authoritarianism. NO to oligarchy. NO to endless wars. NO to the continued attacks against the working class. I look forward to seeing you in St. Paul, MN.

@OccupyDemocrats So the US bases are so completely destroyed but surprisingly no casualties. Haha. What effective strikes

BREAKING: Trump is left reeling after the New York Times reveals that Iran’s attacks have bombed EVERY American military base in the Middle East so badly they are “virtually uninhabitable!” Thanks to the Trump administration’s criminal lack of preparation and shocking understimation of Iran’s military capabilities, the US military is now working remotely in the Middle East, putting civilians in danger as they work out of hotels and makeshift operations centers in civilian areas. “The result, according to current and former military officials, is a war that is much harder to prosecute.” The Times reports that “many of the 13 military bases in the region used by American troops are all but uninhabitable, with the ones in Kuwait, which is next door to Iran, suffering perhaps the most damage.” Iranian officials have even accused the U.S. military of using civilians as human shields by putting American troops in hotels. This is sure to prompt another furious tirade from Donald Trump who we now know is not getting the full picture of just how badly this war is going for him and is instead just getting a highlight reel of war porn, watching our tax dollars blow things up for two minutes every day. This is a perfect demonstration of the blind hubris of the Trump administration. After two decades of watching America uncontestedly bomb the poorest people in the world, Trump and Hegseth couldn’t even conceive of an enemy with a sophisticated military and able to fight back, despite all the evidence to the contrary. They took no preparations, expected no reprisals. They didn't evacuate anyone from the Middle East until AFTER the war had started. They didn't bother to prepare for drones. They attacked Iran because they are cowards and bullies, thinking that they could impose their will on Iran by simply killing one old man. They were very, very, wrong, and now they’ve started a fire they cannot put out with lies and bombs.

@Ryanmatta @Truthtellerftm @IanMalcolm84 Retarded. Israel is our strongest most capable ally. Iran won't do a damn thing but continue to bleed out. Yall secretly rooting for disaster just so you can say "i told you so". Bet you won't admit how you were wrong after the 1st

If Trump doesn’t send in ground troops or nuke Iran this weekend. Israel will be destroyed before May 1st, 2026. This is why.

@realtrumpstein That is bullshit. You've never been around soldiers.

CONFIRMED: Several US military bases are experiencing internal revolt as a huge number of soldiers are refusing to go to the battlefield and die for Israel. This will have a devastating impact on pentagon and the Whitehouse. Internal revolt is the first time to be experienced.