It's not the specific tactical result that matters, it's a show of force that made a strategic point. That's London range (from NW IR) and all of Europe, which changes the calculus for individual NATO country decisions. Unfortunately, the bigger picture is it looks like it's going to take an event that humiliates Trump enormously without a valid escalation or counter response option to get this war of choice to an off-ramp.
PS: It's unclear if an ~$9-25m SM-3 successfully intercepted either of those 2 or not.
https://archive.ph/ZKi5G
It's not the specific tactical result that matters, it's a show of force that made a strategic point. That's London range (from NW IR) and all of Europe, which changes the calculus for individual NATO country decisions. Unfortunately, the bigger picture is it looks like it's going to take an event that humiliates Trump enormously without a valid escalation or counter response option to get this war of choice to an off-ramp.
PS: It's unclear if an ~$9-25m SM-3 successfully intercepted either of those 2 or not.