As the nearly month-long Israeli-American war against Iran approaches the end of its first month, let’s briefly examine some of the weapons systems, tactics, and strategies being employed by both sides in this first prolonged war since the Russia-Ukraine conflict kicked off in 2022. The latter can be seen as a watershed conflict in terms of the proliferation and prominence of unmanned systems (drones) employed in war. It was the First Drone War, as it were, and the 2026 Iran conflict can now accurately be described as the Second Drone War – although missiles are also featuring prominently, as well.
On the American-Israeli side, some of the innovative weapons and tactics being used include sophisticated and layered interceptor air defenses and directed high-energy weapons systems. Specifically, the U.S. military’s HELIOS and ODIN laser systems, and the Israeli Iron Beam, have been used successfully to take down Iranian attack drones. Such laser systems will surely feature in future military conflicts as more militaries develop their own versions.
Sophisticated and layered air defense systems incorporating Iron Dome, Patriot missiles, THAAD defenses and the ship-based Aegis Combat System are also featuring prominently on the American-Israeli side. Both militaries have reportedly been able to intercept the majority of incoming Iranian ballistic threats, although it should be noted that these systems are expensive to operate and the numbers of interceptor projectiles are not limitless or cost-free. Hence the apparent focus on degrading Iran’s overall missile program as one of the end goals of the military operation.
The U.S. military has also for the first time incorporated its LUCAS drone into combat, offering a new, one-way attack drone option for the American military. Also seen for the first time are American Precision Strike Missiles fired from the HIMARS platform. These PrSMs have been in development since the mid-2010’s and are now used for the first time in combat.
Meanwhile, Israeli intelligence appears to have employed a combination of offensive cyber operations and artificial intelligence to effectively target high-value Iranian leadership figures at the start of the war. This was reportedly accomplished through the hacking of traffic and other cameras inside Iran, and synthesizing huge quantities of data to pinpoint high-value targets. While this targeting capability has appeared for years in Hollywood movies, it is really only now – with the help of AI – becoming a reality.
Over on the Iranian side, in addition to a long range missile fired toward Diego Garcia and the reported use of some new, larger-payload missiles, the country has utilized “drone-then-missile” salvos to try to overwhelm American and Israeli air defenses. This new tactic seems to entail launching large numbers of attack drones to both degrade and saturate enemy air defenses, while then following those with cruise and ballistic missile attacks. This again underscores the “drone and missile” nature of this war.
Otherwise, the Iranian response has been largely asymmetrical, in that Iran has largely targeted U.S. allies supporting the war in the region, American bases, diplomatic, and intelligence facilities, and commercial oil tankers in the Gulf. While Iran has also attacked American and Israeli air defense targets, and Israel itself, Iran’s overall strategic goal appears to be to make the attack against it so economically painful for the rest of the world that the international community creates international pressure on America and Israel to cease operations against Iran. Its most notable tactic in this regard is its attacks on oil tankers confined to the Persian Gulf and threats to the Strait of Hormuz, as well as other oil and gas infrastructure in the region. This has been effective in driving up the cost of oil worldwide and rattling global stock markets.
In sum, the conflict has seen some new weapons, tactics, and strategies that will undoubtedly feature in future conflicts in this new age. It is a reality that began to emerge in Ukraine in 2022 and that is now coming fully to the fore.
Feature Image: The Israeli Iron Beam guided energy weapon. (Israel Defense Forces)
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