Iran has a clear strategy in its retaliatory strikes across the Mideast: It's going after what the Wall Street Journal describes as "the eyes" of its enemies' air defenses. Tehran has struck radar, communications, and air-defense sites tied to US and partner forces in Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, according to the story. The focus: high-value radar installations that detect incoming missiles and drones, then cue systems like Patriot and THAAD. Many of the attacks are being carried out with relatively cheap one-way drones such as Shaheds, which are harder for traditional systems to catch and far less costly than the missiles those systems were built to stop.
One of the most significant hits landed at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base, home to the largest US installation in the region, where imagery and a US official point to damage to a billion-dollar AN/FPS-132 early-warning radar. Similar radar assets in Jordan and at Kuwait's Camp Arifjan, plus a satellite communications system at the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and a radar site at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base, also show damage. The New York Times had a detailed roundup of such attacks.
Analysts say the strikes highlight how vulnerable rare, top-tier radar systems can be. "It is clear that the Iranians have a sense of what type of targets they want to continue to press against," says Ravi Chaudhary, a former assistant secretary of the Air Force, but he added that, "overall, our defenses are doing quite well."
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