‘They Took Out The Eyes!’: How Iranian Attack On 5,000 Km Range Ballistic Radar Has ‘Blinded’ US

Closing Up to this level:March 05, 2026, 10:05 IST

Constructed as phase of the Upgraded Early Warning Radar programme, the diagram can track ballistic missiles & a mode of aerial threats at distances of up to five,000 km, providing early warning

The spoil to a severe US early warning radar diagram in Qatar, costing around $1.1 billion, by Iranian strikes has resulted in a valuable blow to the missile defence programs of the US militia forces within the station, which might well well perhaps render them blind to doable missile strikes.

Confirming the spoil to the severe infrastructure of the US militia forces, satellite tv for pc photos got by Planet Labs showed indicators of spoil and firefighting efforts around the spot of the US Condo Force’s AN/FPS-132 (Block 5) Ballistic Missile Early Warning Radar Device, which is the finest operated by the US militia forces within the Heart East.

Whereas the Islamic Modern Guard Corps (IRGC) described it as a “precision missile strike”, other sources indicated that a low-cost, one-way attack drone, possibly of the Shahed type, may have breached the defences in the midst of a saturated attack of missiles and drones.

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All About The Radar System

Built by Raytheon as part of the Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR) programme, the system can track ballistic missiles and other aerial threats at distances of up to 5,000 km, providing early warning of launches across the Middle East.

Its location in Qatar allows the radar to cover a number of key strategic regions, including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, parts of Central Asia, and the Indian Ocean.

Because of its range, the radar is a key node in a US missile defence system that integrates systems such as THAAD, Patriot missile defence batteries, and warships equipped with Aegis systems. It detects missile launches in good time and provides crucial minutes for defence against missile attacks, which can make all the difference between a successful intercept and a missed opportunity.

What Experts Say

Experts claim that the consequences are not limited to a destroyed facility. In a conversation on X, retired US Army colonel Douglas Macgregor, a former Pentagon adviser, discussed the importance of the destroyed installation when he said: “They took out the eyes.”

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Geopolitics expert Brian Allen mentioned the aptitude fallout of the strike, pronouncing that it would private strategic penalties for the US militia presence within the station. He described the destroyed radar set up as “the spine of all US missile defence within the Gulf” and warned that parts of the defensive network might now be “operating blind”. The attack, he stated, underscores the nature of in vogue war, in which air defence programs must counter each and each threat, whereas the attacker handiest needs a single missile to strike a precious blueprint.

Military analysts sign that while the United States operates a international community of sensors, in conjunction with satellites and a mode of radars, the loss or degradation of a strategic diagram like the AN/FPS-132 might well perhaps tranquil carry out gaps in regional coverage. Because such successfully-organized mounted radars are subtle to substitute hasty, any spoil might well perhaps temporarily weaken surveillance and missile-tracking capability in a station that hosts severe US bases and key international energy routes.

With the exception of this, strategic safety consultants private additionally pointed out the imprint a part of the asset that used to be broken. In accordance with estimates compiled in accordance with defence records, the radar diagram is mainly the most costly allotment of instruments reportedly broken at some level of the early stages of the battle. Because the diagram is phase of the US ballistic missile warning diagram within the Gulf, the attack on the diagram might well perhaps reportedly cause difficulties within the coordination of the THAAD missile defence diagram, as successfully as the Patriot missile diagram, which depends on records provided by the radar diagram.

As quoted by TurDef, consultants direct that the attack on the diagram proves that Iran can blueprint key parts of the US missile defence diagram, which might well well perhaps cause changes within the deployment of surveillance assets within the station.

News world ‘They Took Out The Eyes!’: How Iranian Attack On 5,000 Km Vary Ballistic Radar Has ‘Blinded’ US

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