South Korean media: The air defense network of THAAD and Patriot systems pierced by Iranian missiles… U.S. air defense faces test

¬ Jordan U.S. military base attacked by 3 missiles

Three ballistic missiles launched by Iran struck the U.S. military air base in Jordan, penetrating the American air defense network and landing inside the base complex. This indicates that Iran's missile capabilities still pose a significant threat. Meanwhile, some assessments suggest that the multi-layered U.S. air defense system—centered on the Patriot and THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense)—has been put to the test against upgraded Iranian missiles.

According to *The Wall Street Journal* (WSJ), citing local time on the 20th, Iran launched ballistic missile attacks on the Muwaqqar Salihit Air Base in Jordan on the 17th. U.S. officials stated that three of the missiles breached the U.S. military’s air defense system and fell inside the base.

In the first attack, debris from the missile struck the base’s gymnasium. Alarms sounded, prompting soldiers to take cover in shelters, but some were injured during their movement. Subsequently, the second missile directly hit an aircraft hangar. As the hangar was empty at the time, there were no major casualties. The third missile struck a containerized modular barracks (CHU) housing U.S. military personnel. Although alarms had sounded prior to the strike, not all soldiers reached shelter in time, resulting in two U.S. service members killed and one missing.

The Muwaqqar Salihit Air Base is one of the primary U.S. airpower deployment hubs in the Middle East. Early this year, the THAAD system—the terminal high-altitude area defense capability—was deployed here. The U.S. multi-layered air defense network, centered on Patriot and THAAD systems, has long been regarded as the world’s most advanced and served as the cornerstone for defending U.S. military bases and allied nations in the Middle East. The THAAD system uses powerful radars to detect and track incoming missiles, destroying them via direct collision at both atmospheric and exo-atmospheric altitudes. At lower altitudes, the Patriot system provides a secondary interception layer, forming a multi-tiered defense. Short-range air defense systems handle low-altitude threats such as drones and cruise missiles.

Yet this incident also exposed a critical vulnerability: even with multiple layers of defense, the system failed to intercept all attacks. The U.S. military did not publicly disclose which air defense systems participated in the interception or the reasons for the failure. However, some analysts argue that the fact that three ballistic missiles penetrated the defenses and landed inside the base is sufficient evidence that the air defense network was effectively breached.

The exact missile model used by Iran remains unconfirmed. But U.S. officials told *The Wall Street Journal* that Iran is employing missiles capable of flying at extremely high speeds while altering course during descent—designed specifically to evade U.S. defense systems. Conventional ballistic missiles follow predictable parabolic trajectories after ascent, but missiles equipped with maneuverable reentry vehicles (MaRVs) can adjust their flight paths laterally during the terminal phase. This makes it difficult for radar systems to predict accurate impact points, significantly reducing the time available for interception.

Middle Eastern media outlet *The National* analyzed that this attack “demonstrates Iran’s improved precision in ballistic missiles and technological advancements in maneuverable reentry vehicles, making these missiles harder to intercept.” U.S. officials noted that Iran has dispersed launchers and missiles across underground “missile cities,” having restored more than half of its pre-war missile capabilities.

Notably, Iran focused its attacks on U.S. facilities in Jordan. According to *The New York Times* (NYT), U.S. military bases in Jordan—including the Muwaqqar Salihit Air Base—were struck four times within five days. Previous attacks resulted in dozens of U.S. injuries and damage to multiple helicopters. It is speculated that Iran may be combining inexpensive suicide drones with ballistic missiles in repeated launches, overwhelming radar and interception systems in an effort to identify weak points in the air defense network.

Military experts believe this could be a “shaping operation”—a preparatory maneuver aimed at probing and weakening enemy defenses in anticipation of larger-scale attacks. Jordan serves as a primary flight corridor for Iran to launch missiles and drones toward Israel. By degrading Jordan’s and the U.S. military’s air defenses, Iran aims to increase the likelihood of success in future large-scale attacks on Israel.

This incident reveals not only the failure of defense at a single Jordanian base but also exposes the limitations of the U.S. air defense network deployed throughout the Middle East. If Iran combines high-speed, maneuverable ballistic missiles with large numbers of cheap drones, the U.S. might face a scenario where it must continuously expend expensive interceptors while still risking partial breaches by incoming missiles. Thus, some argue that air defense strategy should no longer rely solely on costly systems like the Patriot, but instead shift toward ensuring large quantities of affordable interception means.

Source: JoongAng Ilbo

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1871386242094215/

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