askchapo

Are there THAAD batteries dotting the perimiter of london just hidden

There are literally just like, ten THAAD batteries in the entire world - the US has seven with an eighth on the way (although it may have already been delivered, not sure), one in Korea, one in Guam, three in in the US itself, and two were deployed to Israel to help defend against Iran, although I'm not sure if they're still there or have been moved elsewhere since. The UAE has another two, and the Saudis another one, with six more ordered but who knows when delivery will actually take place. Beyond the number of batteries themselves, there's also the question of munitions, a substantial portion of which were expended defending Israel, and will take a while to replace (No THAADs ’til 2027: Missile defense experts warn of interceptor ‘gap’).

When it comes to less advanced systems like the Patriot or SAMP/T, there's a lot more of them, so I guess stopping a handful of missiles might be viable, but Ukraine, with probably one of the densest air defense networks around (courtesy of lots of inherited Soviet systems combined with Western military aid), way more capable than pretty much any NATO country other than the US, is still getting hammered, so it doesn't really seem like anyone has an air defense that can handle a sustained campaign.