The Pentagon announced on October 21 that the United States has deployed new high- and medium-range air defense systems to the Middle East, the report said, 14 days after full-scale conflicts broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group and political party Hamas.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the military has “ activated the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery as well as additional Patriot battalions ” at undisclosed locations in the Middle East to enhance the protection of US forces.

US action

The decision comes after “detailed discussions” with US President Joe Biden “on recent escalations by Iran and its proxies across the Middle East”. It is seen as a comprehensive effort to provide greater support to Israel, while additional US forces have also been ordered to be ready to deploy “as part of prudent contingency planning”.

The US massively expanded its military presence in the region just ten days after the outbreak of hostilities, including the deployment of two nuclear-powered aircraft carrier strike groups. A maritime rapid reaction force was also deployed to the region, along with A-10 attack aircraft and F-15E fighters. B-1B bombers were also deployed to the UK, with an operational range of up to 9,400km, enough to reach targets in the Middle East quickly.

Israel's air defenses have been under unprecedented pressure after being hit by Hamas attacks and have been on edge for the past two weeks. The US military has added surface-to-air missiles to its Iron Dome system and donated its only two Iron Dome units to the Israel Defense Forces.

This concern is necessary, because the rocket artillery system used by Hamas is still very limited in capacity but also causes great damage to Israel. Meanwhile, Israel is also concerned about the possibility of clashes with the paramilitary group Hezbollah and armed groups backed by Iran, these forces have much stronger fighting capabilities than Hamas, especially they possess many types of modern missiles.

In addition to Israel, US military bases in Syria and Iraq are also under increasing pressure from sporadic attacks by local militias, many of which have ties to Iran or Hezbollah. Many experts predict the possibility of a wider war, which would see the US, Turkey and Israel join forces against Iran and its allies, while US bases in the region would also be subject to much larger-scale attacks.

In a typical example, Iran launched limited attacks on a US military facility in Iraq on January 8, 2020, in retaliation for the CIA assassination of General Qasem Solemani, an attack that resulted in 109 American casualties.

Concerns from Iran's missiles

The THAAD system is specifically designed to counter high-altitude ballistic missiles like Iran's Khorramshahr and Shahab-3, while the Patriot is optimized for intercepting lower-altitude targets like those in the arsenals of Hezbollah and Syria.

Military experts point out that Iran has built a powerful missile force thanks to the support of North Korea. Since the early 1980s, North Korea and Iran have begun to sign missile export agreements, followed by technology transfers and missile manufacturing licenses to Iran.

Currently, no country in the Middle East possesses missile systems comparable to North Korea's KN-23 or Russia's Iskander, which are tactical ballistic missiles that use unusual semi-ballistic flight trajectories, making them virtually impossible to intercept by systems like THAAD and Patriot.

However, Iran has also developed a series of improvements necessary to increase the survivability of its missiles. In June 2023, the country also unveiled its first ballistic missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle, which is very similar to North Korea's hypersonic missile.

These new weapons, combined with the huge number of missiles in the arsenal of Iran and its allies, are considered a serious threat to US forces and allies in the region. Along with the lack of reliability of the Patriot system, most clearly demonstrated in the battlefield of Ukraine, these show that the US and its allies are increasingly having a difficult time maintaining a presence in this hot region.

Le Hung (Source: Military Watch)