Which weapons systems are being used in the Iran war?
According to the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), Operation Epic Fury has involved more than 20 weapons systems across air, sea, land and missile defence forces.
CENTCOM says more than 1,000 targets inside Iran have been struck, using more than 20 different systems across the air, sea and land, as well as the missile defence force.
“The focus of the United States and Israelis now is to blunt or degrade – as quickly as they can – the offensive capabilities of the Iranians to keep wreaking havoc. You want to stop these attacks, or at least diminish them as much as you can,” Kevin Donegan, a former CENTCOM operations director, told Al Jazeera.
The campaign has relied heavily on US air assets, including:
- B-1 bombers
- B-2 stealth bombers: used to strike key nuclear and military infrastructure
- F-35 Lightning II & F-22 Raptor: advanced stealth fighters
- F-15 fighter jets: extensively used; three were lost in an incident over Kuwait on March 1
- F-16 Fighting Falcon, F/A-18 Super Hornet, and A-10 attacker jets: all confirmed for strike and support roles
- EA-18G Growler: used for electronic attack and suppressing enemy air defences
- Airborne early warning and control aircraft (AWACS): providing command, control and battle-space management.
Source: Al Jazeera.
