Except for the F35, which is just a platform, the weapons are much the same . Block VI Tomahawks have been in service since 2016. Admittedly the GBU-172 is fairly new (2021), but it basically combines a 40 year old BLU-109 warhead fitted to a late 90s GBU-31/B. TThe M142 HIMARS that have been reportedly used entered service 20 years ago. Reaper drones have been around a long time, so has the AH-64, and obviously the A10. As for theocratic states, all of the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia are theocratic monarchies, with very much an Islamist agenda. Iran carries out public executions using cranes. Saudi Arabia will use a random square and a bloke with a big sword. Is that better than a theocratic republic? Gulf money funded DAESH; the governments made no effort to stop that, so I would assume they rather approved of this group, and the vast majority of terrorist attacks against the world has been by Sunni groups, not Shia. The civil war in Syria wasn't kicked off by a Shia uprising; they were the ones in charge. The war was started, or rather continued by Sunni groups, who were first crushed by Assad's old man in the 1980s. Until the 1970s, Lebanon was a quiet country, with the Druze, Christians and Shia living in peaceful coexistance. The Palestinians were forced in. The demographic change destabilised the country. Hezbollah emerged in 1982, after Israel invaded Southern Lebanon, chasing the Sunni PLO. Israel was in alliance with the Phalangist faction, who carried out the horrific Sabra and Shatilla massacres of Palestinian refugees and Shia Lebanese. That act was probably the recruiting sergeant for Hezbollah. Have no doubt, the governments of the Gulf states are rotten to the core. They have murdered and tortured their way to power. They are not good people. I grew up in Bahrain. My dad was British Army, on loan service to the Bahrain Defence Forces, commanding Bahraini units. Even back then, I knew of "Major Henderson". The British contingent would have nothing to do with him, persona non grata in the Embassy. Later on I found out who Ian Henderson was. He was a Police Superintendant from Kenya, cut his teeth during the Mau Mau. In Bahrain, he was in charge of their Special Branch, the Mukabarat, or Secret Police. One of my dad's Warrant Officers, Said, was really good, and dad wanted him to go to the UK, to go on a course, so he could get promotion. But Said was Shia, and it wasn't a good idea for the Shia to shine in Bahrain. So no promotion. His brother had been arrested, and literally disappeared, apparently because they found out how he had voted in a fake election. My school mate is now the Prime Minister. During the Bahrain uprisings, he was Defence Minister. I thought I knew him, he had attended university in the US, and seemed very Westernised. During the uprisings, there was the same old torture, disappearings, of people who basically just wanted a vote. So I would not get hooked onto the notion that the Gulf nations are normal countries. They are fabulously rich, which makes them bone idle. Why should they work when you can get Indians to do the hard graft, and get some Americans/Brits to do the thinking. They don't think much of the West. They don't share our values. But they know we want their oil, and we will protect them for that oil. Yeah, they play us. An Arab nation I do mark out as different is Jordan. Very different, but they are dirt poor, and have to work. They don't share our values, and do detect Israel, but the relationship is very different. Countries like Bahrain fear Iran no matter who is in charge. The Shah tried to invade it, so did the Mullahs. Iran has always considered the Shia majority, Sunni ruled Kingdom as Iranian. The Gulf Arabs won't do any fighting. During the Arab-Israeli wars they sent arms, but <deleted> all else. In Gulf War 1, we kept them out of the way. Ukrainian have noted that the Kuwaiti Patriot operators have this habit of fleeing to a bunker when there is incoming, and leaving the systems on auto (Ukraine has learnt Patriot is more effective in a manual mode). 40% of the Qatari army isn't even Qatari. The main fighting troops in Bahrain are Jordanians and Pakistani Baluchis. In the UAE, the only troops who have done any fighting are Colombian mercenaries.
