00:03As tensions escalate across West Asia, the possibility of retaliation by Gulf nations
00:08is becoming an increasingly serious concern.
00:11While many of these countries have historically balanced diplomacy with strategic restraint,
00:16this widening conflict could force them to respond more assertively.
00:20So what will a military retaliation look like?
00:24Sandeep Unitan explains.
00:27Iran has launched ballistic missile, cruise missile and drone attacks
00:31against all the countries of the Gulf region, West Asia, the GCC countries, over 16 days now.
00:38It's fired thousands of projectiles at Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
00:46Most of these countries have not responded yet.
00:49They all have capable militaries but for some reason they're staying silent, possibly US pressure.
00:55But if these countries, if the GCC countries decide to retaliate against Iranian attacks,
01:02how could they retaliate?
01:03Let's look at the key weapon systems that they have in their inventories which would allow them to target Iran.
01:10Now the first missile that at least three countries have in this region is the Storm Shadow.
01:21Now the Storm Shadow is a cruise missile, it's dropped by aircraft, that's in the inventory of at least three
01:30Gulf Air Forces.
01:31Saudi Arabia has it, UAE has it and Qatar has it.
01:35The UAE version is called the Black Shaheen but the Storm Shadow is a version of the French missile called
01:42the Scalp.
01:43The Indian Air Force also uses it, it's called the Scalp of course.
01:47The Storm Shadow has a range of something like 550 kilometers and it has a warhead of over 400 kgs,
01:57that's half a ton.
01:57And three aircraft types in these three air forces carry this, they could use it to strike at targets in
02:05Iran.
02:06So apart from the Storm Shadow you have the Army Tactical Missile System.
02:13Now the ATA CMS is a ballistic missile that's only in the inventory of Bahrain.
02:24Tiny Bahrain is the only country in the region to have this ballistic missile that has a range of around
02:30350 kilometers.
02:33It's a short range ballistic missile but it's enough for Bahrain to target targets inside Iran.
02:40And then you have Chinese systems called the Wing Loom.
02:45Now the Wing Loom is a male U-Cav that is a medium altitude, long endurance, unmanned combat aerial vehicle.
03:03Now the Wing Loom is in the inventory of Saudi Arabia, it's a Chinese drone.
03:08It has a payload capacity of something like 450 kgs and it can stay aloft for over 30 hours.
03:19Now that's enough for Saudi Arabia to launch attacks at Iran using this.
03:26Now the Wing Loom carries, as I said, 450 kgs, mainly bombs and surface-to-air missiles.
03:33Now Saudi Arabia also has a very, very important missile which few other countries in the region do not have
03:41and that is the Dong Feng 21.
03:45Now the Dong Feng 21 is a unique missile.
03:53This is believed to have been acquired by Saudi Arabia in the 80s or the 90s.
03:58The number of these missiles is not known but this is believed to be a missile that the Saudi Arabia
04:05military forces acquired for possible use with a nuclear weapon at some point.
04:11These are, of course, never been proven.
04:14This missile has been seen in parades.
04:18It's a Chinese-made ballistic missile with a range of over 2,500 kilometers.
04:26Now that is one of the...
04:28Saudi Arabia is the only country in the region, in fact, apart from Iran, that has a ballistic missile of
04:34this capability.
04:35In fact, it's the only GCC country in the region to have this ballistic missile which it has used.
04:41It's shown in parades but it's never really formally fired it, test-fired it.
04:45So the status of this is unknown but this could be one possible way that Saudi Arabia could retaliate against
04:52Iranian missiles that are hitting all of its oil infrastructure and its cities and its military bases.
04:59So primarily these would be the systems that all of these countries would use if they were given the go
05:05-ahead to launch attacks against Iran.
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