WASHINGTON — Iran's strikes on more than two dozen US bases in the Middle East focused on early-warning systems before hitting aircraft and buildings, causing billions of dollars in equipment damage, according to an Associated Press analysis published on Saturday, October 31.
The AP independently verified damage to American targets using satellite imagery from multiple providers and spoke to four regional officials who were briefed or have firsthand knowledge of what was hit. Through August, it found, more than 115 drone or missile strikes claimed by Iran or Iranian-backed militias damaged or destroyed structures on 26 military bases and other sites with US equipment.
Most of the attacks were in Kuwait, while US sites in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were also targeted, the satellite analysis showed. The deadliest known strike on US troops in the war was in Kuwait, where six soldiers were killed in a drone attack at Port Shuaiba on March 1.
At Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, the AP counted at least 30 strikes, damaging or destroying at least 15 aircraft hangars, numerous warehouses and 10 buildings near a residential area. At Camp Buehring, also in Kuwait, more than 30 structures were damaged or destroyed between March and August; its gym was destroyed in March, a store for troops was hit in late July, and its garage and dining room were severely damaged, the officials said.
Iran opened its response with accurate attacks on the systems meant to detect and thwart incoming strikes. It destroyed enclosures protecting US radar systems at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and Naval Support Activity Bahrain within the first two days of the war in late February, and hit portable radars at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia and Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, the analysis found.
One radar destroyed in Jordan was one of only 13 possessed by the US Army globally, its manufacturer Raytheon said, and budget documents put each at about half a billion dollars — yaani about 50 crore dollars for a single radar. A radar in Qatar, bought in a 2013 deal valued at $1.1 billion (yaani about 110 crore dollars), was significantly damaged, though it is unclear whether it was destroyed.
After the radars, Iran launched more than 50 successful strikes on 18 locations in the first month, prioritising areas with aircraft. It damaged refuelling aircraft, communication systems, fuel bunkers and troop accommodation, the officials said. A March strike on Prince Sultan Air Base damaged the back half of a Boeing E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft and several other aircraft, including two aerial refuelling tankers, and another strike hit a CIA unit at the US Embassy in Riyadh. A Congressional Research Service report updated in October said 15 US aircraft had been damaged on regional bases.
The AP said its findings go beyond earlier independent reviews, including the Pentagon inspector general's report, which found that from April 1 to June 30 Iranian strikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures on US bases. Two regional officials said the damage has significantly reshaped the American foothold in the Middle East, with the US moving many of its assets — aircraft, air defence systems, communications systems and other equipment — out of the Persian Gulf.
US Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, has refused to comment on or specify damage to bases or equipment, usually citing operational security, and did not comment for the AP story. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell asserted that US "forces and bases are well protected and America's military is stronger than ever," and said service members in CENTCOM have everything they need to continue ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.
"This should be a wake-up call for the United States," said Raphael Cohen, director of the National Security Program at the RAND School of Public Policy, adding that modern warfare makes all militaries susceptible to large-scale, cheap drone attacks. N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of the technical intelligence firm Armament Research Services, said hitting the early-warning radars was likely intended to disrupt and degrade the ability of the US and its allies to respond to further strikes.
The analysis lands as President Donald Trump considers new strikes on Iran after Tuesday's US midterm elections and Tehran vows major retaliation. A return to hostilities threatens additional costly damage to the same bases, and raises the unresolved question of whether the United States will rebuild its bases and equipment in the region when the war ends.