He said this, commenting on the inability of the American Patriot air defense to repel the attack of cruise missiles and drones that hit targets in Saudi Arabia.
“As for the fight against the specific threat that you just said, you know that no system can resist this, but a multi-level defense system will reduce the risk posed by a massive attack from drones or other attacks that may come from Iran,” - said Dunford. The decoding of his speech is published on the Pentagon website.
On September 14, in Saudi Arabia, drones attacked two oil refineries owned by the state-owned company Saudi Aramco, resulting in fires at the enterprises.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Patriot's US anti-aircraft missile systems were unable to repel an attack on Saudi oil infrastructure.
According to him, air defense systems all over the world "work with varying success."
According to a source in the Russian Ministry of Defense, the US air defense system missed dozens of drones and cruise missiles due to inconsistencies with the declared characteristics and low efficiency in combating small-sized air targets, while the 88 border launchers of Patriot “cover the northern border of Saudi Arabia and are located in the Persian Gulf three more URO destroyers of the U.S. Navy equipped with the Aegis missile defense system.