No Comment On The USS Abraham Lincoln

President Trump says that he thinks the US will "keep" the Strait of Hormuz, adding: "Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer. Praise be to Allah!" pic.twitter.com/5tvBHRVlaJ

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) August 12, 2026

Or on this:

NEW: The U.S. military has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during the war with Iran, or roughly 25 percent of its fleet, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The high-demand drones cost between $30 million and $50 million a piece. w/ @noahjrobertson…

— Tara Copp (@TaraCopp) August 13, 2026

Raising again some serious questions:

The June 2025 “Spiderweb” operation, a coordinated long-range drone strike launched simultaneously against multiple Russian airfields deep inside Russian territory, illustrates yet another new form of Ukrainian drone deployment. It took only 117 FPV drones costing about $117,000 altogether to damage or destroy more than 40 Russian aircraft across five airbases valued at more than $7 billion. Long-range Ukrainian drone strikes have also targeted oil extraction, refining, and fuel infrastructure hundreds of miles from the frontline, periodically forcing shutdowns and compelling Russia to redirect its resources from the front.

Home-produced long-range unmanned systems allow Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia while avoiding the need to get permission that likely wouldn’t be granted to use weapons provided by Western allies to hit targets inside Russian territory. The debate over these restrictions has been a constant part of the war. The United States and its partners have repeatedly limited or conditioned Ukraine’s ability to strike beyond its borders with arms supplied by the West. In contrast to Western-supplied missiles such as ATACMS or Storm Shadow, which cost more than $1 million per unit and may be subject to those kinds of restrictions, Ukrainian drones can be used freely, and cost between $400 (for tactical frontline operations) and $400,000.

The cost of military weapons is often blamed on the contractors. The truth is, it’s the Pentagon that sets the terms of the contract. It’s the demands of the Pentagon that end up setting the price; and the availability.

A Sting interceptor costs about $2,500. In comparison, a single U.S.-made Patriot interceptor missile that does the same job costs more than $3 million and requires significantly more time and resources to build and operate than a drone. Lockheed Martin produced approximately 600 of the most advanced PAC-3 type of Patriot missiles last year; meanwhile, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used about 700 of these interceptors in the span of only four winter months in 2025-2026.

This is your reminder that, while Nazi Germany was a major industrial power, the United States overwhelmed them with massive output. Pretty much what Ukraine is doing. And Patriot missiles aren’t much use against the weapons threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

And we’ve already lost 25% of our drones in just 5 1/2 months. Against Iran. With a budget deficit so large, interest payments are now the largest single federal government expenditure.