Mackenzie Eaglen writes about lessons American leaders should learn from the recent conflict with Iran.
In the rubble of key infrastructure losses to the U.S. military in the Middle East as a result of Iranian retaliation in Operation Epic Fury, there are lessons to learn for all forces forward. America must invest more heavily in acquiring air and missile defense capabilities, a suite of layered, varied counter-drone kits, and begin a major construction effort to put key assets and equipment underground, including overseas.
The days of exposed aircraft sitting safely on runways to prosecute operations unimpeded are over. But not nearly enough U.S. military bases at home or abroad are hardened or sheltered to protect our most capable equipment.
In a stunning security breach that went largely unanswered, unidentified drones swarmed above the skies of America’s bomber base in Louisiana for days in March. Barksdale Air Force Base is home to B-52 bombers and nuclear weapons storage facilities, and command and control assets. According to ABC News, the drones arrived in organized waves of 12 to 15 at a time for hours each day for a week. This threat caused troops to shelter in place and the flight line to shut down.
The drone blitzes over Barksdale were operating “with aircraft displaying non-commercial signal characteristics, long-range control links and resistance to jamming.” These same drones “used varied routes of ingress and deliberate maneuvering within restricted airspace.” An internal government briefing apparently found the drones “appeared to be custom-built and required ‘advanced knowledge’ of signal operations.”
The drones should have been neutralized on the first day of unauthorized intrusion, and the bombers should have been safely protected underneath a hardened hangar. Instead, the drones collected intelligence—including testing security responses—for nearly a week using “varied routes of ingress and deliberate maneuvering within restricted airspace” and “dispersed across sensitive locations on the base.”
This type of activity is only going to increase at home and abroad and will increasingly employ kinetic actions to achieve military effects.
