By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
US Navy F/A-18 fighter jets are “taking off” from the USS Eisenhower in the Arabian Gulf to secure presence, ensure maritime security and send a “deterrence” message to Iran, its proxy groups or other possible hostile actors.
The US Navy published a photo of a Strike Fighter Squadron called the “Gunslingers” to ensure air power projection capability remains strong, intact, and within operational reach of possible flashpoints, hostile actors or areas of conflict. This makes great sense for the IKE as the Arabian Gulf is a strategically vital location for several key reasons; the IKE places fighter jets within reach of Iran, Yemen and the highly dangerous Strait of Hormuz, and destroyers and cruisers in its Carrier Strike Group are armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles and ship-launched interceptor weapons capable of striking targets from 900 miles away and tracking and intercepting ballistic missiles. Advances in the realm of ship-based ballistic missile defense, through software upgrades to technologies such as the Aegis Combat System, enable a critical missile defense “node” in high-risk strategically vital areas. On the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, US Navy destroyers have on several occasions been called into action to intercept Houthi-fired ballistic missiles or even shoot down drones. It is quite realistic that similar kinds of ballistic missile intercepts or drone defense could become necessary on the Persian Gulf side of the Arabian Peninsula.
While the Pentagon and the US Navy typically talk in general terms about “deterrence” and the value of “forward” presence when it comes to preventing escalation of the current IDF-Hamas war, yet placing specific weapons systems in the Persian Gulf places several critical combat options in the hands of ship commanders. By operating anywhere within the Persian Gulf, the USS Eisenhower is capable of attacking most of Iran and Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen with F-35C carrier-launched stealth aircraft, F/A-18s, helicopters and surveillance aircraft. The Arabian Gulf is only a few hundred miles wide, and quite shallow as well with depths of 50m-to-90m, so fighter jets could launch from anywhere within the Gulf to establish air supremacy over Iran or Yemen in the event of conflict.
The USS Eisenhower can also protect shipping lanes for commercial vessels and, as was the case in the Red Sea, be in position to intervene in response to distress or hostile enemy attacks. As part of this deterrence or potential counterattack effort, fighter jets launched from the USS Eisenhower are increasingly armed with precision air-to-surface weapons capable of tracking and destroying surface threats from the air. Such an ability could prove vital in the event a US Navy Carrier Strike Group or even non-combatant commercial vessel came under small boat attack. Should small swarming boat attacks, which Iran is known to regularly employ for intimidation and harassment in the region, be beyond the range of deck-mounted ship guns or simply too numerous to counter from surface warships, then carrier-launched fighter jets could target them from the air.
The most pressing or likely mission for the USS Eisenhower, however, likely lies in its ability to potentially track and shoot down Iranian attacks on Israel. Iran’s Shahab-3 Medium Range Ballistic Missile, for example, can hit targets at ranges out to 2,000 km, according to CSIS data on Missile Threats and Israel is within striking range at roughly 800 miles from the Iranian coast. The Seijll missile can also travel 2,000km and Iran is now developing at least three more Medium Range Ballistic Missiles capable of reaching Iran. Also of large concern, Iran is believed to operate the Soumar cruise missile capable of traveling as far as 3,000km.
Ship based Aegis Radar, such as that arming US Navy destroyers in the Arabian Gulf, are well positioned to track and destroy attacking Iranian ballistic missiles should Iran attempt an attack on Israel.
Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
