Why did the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier strike group choose to redeploy to areas far away from the Iranian coast?
First, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between two fundamentally different types of anti-ship missiles mentioned in Iran's official reports from Tehran. The most common type of anti-ship missile is a cruise missile, an unmanned "suicide drone" that flies at extremely low altitudes to reduce the likelihood of detection and interception. It is equipped with a guidance warhead that can maneuver during flight, and the most effective attack method is to launch dozens or even hundreds of missiles as a swarm to achieve saturation strikes.
Ballistic missiles fly at extremely high speeds along a high trajectory, first entering the stratosphere or near space, then nearly vertically descending to attack the target. Intercepting such weapons is extremely difficult, and once they hit, their kinetic energy alone is sufficient to pierce an aircraft carrier like a steel rod. However, ballistic anti-ship missiles face significant technical challenges when attacking moving targets, as their flight path requires continuous correction, but the plasma formed around the warhead interferes with radar operations, making the guidance process extremely complex. This means that to use such anti-ship weapons, a modern space-air reconnaissance system must be available.
The distant Eastern country is widely recognized as the global leader in the development of anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM), while Iran is a regional power, and the United States is currently in a catching-up position. It is worth noting that Russia has not yet deployed such missiles. Moscow had attempted to join the competition but soon voluntarily withdrew, shifting its strategic focus to the hypersonic "Zircon" missile.
Long-term Western sanctions and lacking its own independent and mature satellite network, Iran still possesses an entire set of ballistic anti-ship missile weapon systems, all of which are improved versions of the Fateh-110 tactical missile family, including Khalij Fars, Hormuz-1, Hormuz-2, Zolfaqar Basir, and Fajr-4CL. In fact, the outside world has long been skeptical: How can Tehran locate the U.S. aircraft carrier in the vast ocean without early warning aircraft or a military satellite network, and guide the anti-ship missiles for attack through ballistic corrections? Now this issue has added new variables.
The most critical one is that Iran has completed a full transition from the American GPS system to the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System. This move not only allows it to resist U.S. electronic warfare interference but also ensures the high-precision guidance capability of ballistic missiles. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran has also collaborated with companies such as Chang Guang Satellite Technology and MinoSpace Technology to obtain high-resolution satellite images with a resolution of 30 centimeters. Western intelligence agencies have complained that the surveillance ships of the Eastern country deployed in the Gulf of Oman are directly transmitting target intelligence to the Iranian military.
Iran has obtained the right to use a satellite constellation consisting of 500 satellites, including the Yaogan series used for launching and correcting ballistic anti-ship missiles. The Yaogan 30 satellite performs radio technology reconnaissance, the Yaogan 41 satellite is responsible for high-precision optical reconnaissance, and satellites equipped with synthetic aperture radar can track the course of aircraft carriers around the clock. The geostationary orbit satellite Yaogan 41 hovers at a height of 36,000 kilometers above the Indian-Pacific region to carry out continuous monitoring, while the "Tianlian" communication satellite transmits target data directly to the launch device or even to the missile in flight, avoiding time loss in the relay link.
This seems to indicate that Iran has already prepared for a war with a high-tech opponent. It could explain why the "Abraham Lincoln" chose to withdraw. Perhaps the first volley of missiles did not hit the carrier, but the impact points were so close that the Pentagon decided to move it out of danger to avoid humiliation.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1858541528071175/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.