Space Force detection systems and Navy missile interceptors prove vital as containment strategy against Iran intensifies
Former CIA director says DoD needs to lay out 'all the options' in Israel-Iran conflict
Ret. Gen. David Petraeus details President Donald Trump's two 'big choices' in the Situation Room on 'The Story.'
President Donald Trump said in Canada on Monday that he "doesn’t want to talk about" U.S. military options. And as Secretary of State Marco Rubio so carefully stated at the start of Israel’s complex campaign, the U.S. is not participating in offensive strikes on Iran.
But make no mistake. The U.S. military is deeply involved, with defensive operations helping Israel ride out attacks, and with new, major force deployments. As of Monday, U.S. Air Force aerial refueling tankers are surging into position for intensified air operations, which could include long-range bomber strikes by the B-2 stealth bombers and their 30,000-lb. massive ordnance penetrator weapons. That’s on top of the 40,000 U.S. forces deployed in the Middle East, from the garrison in Syria to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Gulf and at many points in between.
America has no choice. The world balance of power is on the line. Preventing a nuclear Iran is crucial to the entire U.S. global military strategy of containment.
TRUMP PROMISES TO RESPOND WITH 'FULL STRENGTH AND MIGHT' OF US MILITARY IF IRAN ATTACKS AMERICA
Yes, containment. That Cold War strategy, devised in 1947 to hem in Stalin and the Soviet Union, is about the only long-term U.S. national security policy that’s worked. Isolation is a no-go in the 21st Century when thugs like Iran have ballistic missiles and China has anti-satellite weapons.
Here’s a sampling of what it takes to contain Iran right now.
Missile defense. The hundreds of ballistic missile attacks by Iran are too big for Israel to handle alone. At last count, over 400 missiles have been launched by Iran, in nearly a dozen waves. The U.S.-made Patriot air defense system and the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system have contributed to the 90% intercept rate. However, assistance from the U.S. military, including the U.S. Navy, U.S. Space Force, and other forces deployed to Central Command, has also been instrumental.
Space detection. To counter massed barrages, missile defenders need warning time. Satellites of the United States Space Force pick up the heat flare from Iran’s missile launches. Space force operators see when Iran fires missiles, and can usually determine the class of missile and its heading. Space-based detection stays on 24/7 to guard U.S. forces and allies.
These tactics were first revealed in January 2020, when units like the 2nd Space Warning Squadron in Colorado detected Iran’s night attack with ballistic missiles against U.S. forces at Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq after the death of Qasem Soleimani. "It was a lot of missiles quick, and we could see where they were trying to impact," then-First Lieutenant Mariano Long told C4ISRNet Magazine. Missiles from Iran flew for only 6 minutes from launch to impact in that night attack, according to the Space Force. Israel would have barely more time to form the target track and fire interceptors.
Enter the U.S. Navy. U.S. sailors with Aegis radar systems have become experts at sea-based missile defense, using the Standard Missile family and particularly the SM-3 Block 1B and Block 2A interceptors made in Arizona. On Friday, the USS Thomas Hudner intercepted an Iranian missile, taking an impressive nose-on shot from the eastern Mediterranean. These missiles launch vertically from tubes carried by U.S. destroyers. They don’t explode – instead they use a technology called hit-to-kill, where the sheer kinetic force of the interceptor warhead shatters in the inbound missile. And oh, by the way, this hit takes place 65,000 feet up in the exo-atmosphere. The U.S. Navy fired more than a dozen Standard Missiles in 2024 during Iran’s attacks on Israel in April and October and their presence is vital now.
Aircraft carriers. Speaking of the Navy, President Trump has ordered the USS Nimitz from patrol in the Pacific to the Middle East region. Having two carriers in place will give Trump the option to continue day and night operations. Remember these are what the Navy calls "sovereign options." No host nation permission is needed to launch strikes, or defensive patrols from the carriers. Iran’s drones motoring along at 15,000 feet are no match for U.S. carrier-based aircraft and Air Force units deployed to the region and patrolling their zones.
All these forces and more are essential to containing Iran. Now imagine the scenario with Iranian nuclear bombs in the mix. The demand for more deployed U.S. forces would skyrocket, becoming intolerable as a long-term strategy; containment of Russia and China could crumble, with America’s economic primacy soon to follow.
And this is why, for the U.S. no less than Israel, the denuking of Iran must succeed.
Dr. Rebecca Grant is vice president of the Lexington Institute.
