We write this back recently from Doha, Qatar, where the background noise of air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missiles has thankfully gone quiet. Citizens are no longer being told to shelter in place, and Qatar Airways believes its skies are now safe enough to resume commercial flights.
As Operation Epic Fury entered its second month, critics reached a consensus: Israel and the United States have squandered themselves in a war of choice that has caused unnecessary deaths and rising oil prices, all against the prospect of another deadly American quagmire like Vietnam and Afghanistan. Despite the emerging media narrative at home, we can see in the Gulf that the US-Israeli military strategy worked.
The critics are right when they say the nation was not adequately prepared for this. Unlike the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the objectives of Operation Epic Fury have never been clearly communicated, either to the American people or to our allies.
MORNING GLORY: PRESIDENT TRUMP LEADS THE WEST TO BIG WIN AGAINST IRAN
Nevertheless, Operation Epic Fury, while uneven and far from perfect, was a success.
From a military point of view, Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles is severely depleted. More than 8,000 Iranian military targets have been decimated. Much of the nuclear infrastructure and air defenses, the navy and the command structure were all in ruins.
Although the Iranian regime is fragile but intact, even the fiercest critics of Operation Epic Fury must acknowledge that it has been significantly weakened and that Iran’s nearly fifty-year reign of terror has been significantly reduced.
We also saw the precision and skill of our armed forces as they sneaked into Iran under the cover of darkness to successfully rescue a weapons systems officer who evaded capture for nearly 48 hours after his plane was shot down. Because the pilot of that plane was quickly rescued, the operation allowed both crew members of that flight to leave Iran safely.
STEVE FORBES: IRAN’S NUCLEAR MADNESS LEAVES AMERICA AND ALLIES NO ROOM TO BLINK
But for the same reason the war was costly – and not just in terms of precious lives and property. America’s advanced air and missile defense systems, essential to our full battlefield visibility and eliminating enemy threats, have also been depleted or damaged. Given that this shield is literally the only thing between us and enemy missiles, American decision makers should consider some of the lessons learned in the first month of this conflict.
First, the US and its allies are burning our interceptor inventory at an unsustainable rate. Given that drones and missiles are clearly the weapons of choice of our adversaries, the US has exhausted hundreds of interceptors in Ukraine and the Middle East in the past year alone. Even if the US were to increase production, our military still won’t have the luxury of an unlimited warehouse, which means we need to maximize our intercept inventory in the short term.
Second, fratricide remains a devastating reality. In early March, Central Command confirmed that three US F-15 fighters had been accidentally shot down. Kuwaiti forces mistook the US fighter jets for incoming Iranian missiles during a barrage of fire, although fortunately all US service members survived.
WIN THE BATTLES, LOSE THE WAR? AMERICA MUST DEFINE THE END GAME IN IRAN
Third, this friendly fire incident underscores that both the U.S. and our allies still need a much more complete and immediate picture of the battlespace. While the focus on foreign military sales has largely been on bombs and defensive interceptors, creating a shared vision of the battlefield must remain an investment priority.
These lessons point to the importance of modern command and control systems and their growing role in modern combat. Simply put, more offensive fires, interceptors and sensors are insufficient if there is no way to integrate them across services and domains and with allies.
Army Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano, Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Fires, laid out the appropriate vision, saying, “The ability to deploy multiple sensors on the battlefield, fuse and manage that data… and then ensure that the right effector is deployed against the right threat, in a relevant, meaningful time frame, is key to what we are trying to accomplish around the world.”
IRAN’S NUCLEAR GAMBLE LEAVES AMERICA A CHOICE – AND IT CAN’T BE A DEAL
In recent years, the U.S. Army has made significant progress toward this vision with its highly successful and currently fielded Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS). Known as a “plug-and-fight” network, IBCS replaces eight different anti-ballistic missile defense command systems and connects radars across thousands of kilometers to shoot down short-, medium- and medium-range ballistic missiles, including those used by Iran. It should be an absolute necessity for the War Department to get more IBCS units into the field.
In addition, the Army is rightly pursuing a modernization of the IBCS, which will ensure the system can be quickly relocated and/or reconfigured before the enemy can target it. From both a strategic and operational perspective, IBCS makes the U.S. war effort as efficient as possible and directly addresses the shortage of interceptors. All while giving the warfighter more decision time and a larger defended area to protect troops and critical military assets.
Iran is proving that agility, the ability to move quickly, will become increasingly important in today’s warfare. An expensive, incumbent missile defense system has been a prime target for our enemies, so future modernizations must focus on adaptability. With the military’s support, current contractors can continue to rapidly develop such technology. Speed of deployment and mitigation of technical risk are critical to our battlefield defense, especially given the urgent capability needs in the Middle East.
Finally, for our long-term common defense, our allies must make similar investments in allied systems such as the Patriot and the IBCS. In this way, our allies in the Middle East, such as the UAE, become a force multiplier, making our common defense more efficient and effective. This also directly addresses the priority to significantly reduce the number of friendly fire incidents for U.S. and coalition forces.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
A good model is Poland’s Vistula medium-range defense system, which is the basis of its military modernization. The Wisla system integrates Patriot radars and launchers with the advanced command and control capabilities of the US IBCS system, giving Poland a 360-degree defense capability against cruise missiles, aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles.
Given the lessons learned from the conflict in Iran, it is clear that we need a Vistula-like system in Qatar and the other Gulf states. Lives, including ours, literally depend on it.
Mark Pfeifle is the former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Global Outreach in the George W. Bush White House.
