• Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      1 month ago

      The US intelligence apparatus had better information which is really no surprise. The US has satellites that can count the hairs on someone’s head let alone see missiles being moved around, fueled, and / or prepared for launch. Israel doesn’t have those, or at least not nearly as many of them as the United States does.

      • tal@lemmy.today
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        1 month ago

        The US has satellites that can count the hairs on someone’s head

        Naw, there are physical limits significantly above that. US reconaissance satellites do get pretty close to the theoretical limits, though.

        It came up back when Trump was in office and tweeted some satellite picture from one of his briefings at full resolution, was in the news for a bit in that he’d inadvertently exposed satellite capabilities.

        kagis

        https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2019/09/01/trump-accidentally-revealed-the-amazing-resolution-of-u-s-spy-satellites/

        Based on the resolution of the photo Trump tweeted, though, it appears USA 224 has a resolution of at least 10 centimeters, if not better as Trump appears to have taken an image of a printout.

        That being said, no disagreement on the broader point, that the US probably has a pretty good idea of what Iran is doing with its ballistic missiles.

        • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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          1 month ago

          I have to chuckle, I didn’t think anyone would take my comment about “count the hairs on someone’s head” so literally! You are correct though, there are no satellites with that kind of resolution. We have…other toys…for that. :)