USA moves Patriot and THAAD systems from Asia to Middle East to strike Iran

Over the past few days, the Pentagon has ordered the redeployment of at least two US Army MIM-104 Patriot air defense batteries and a THAAD missile defense system from Asia to the Middle East, NBC News reports.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by DoD Photo By Glenn Fawcett, https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/pdm/

Patriot air defense system

Tensions between Iran and the United States continue to rise and military actions against Iran appear increasingly likely.

Reports of these movements align with a large number of military cargo flights to the Middle East that were tracked over the past week. US Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC) sent dozens of C-17 aircraft and several C-5 aircraft to Isa Air Base in Bahrain and other bases near the Persian Gulf. Almost all of them departed from Osan Air Base in South Korea. US aircraft continue to arrive at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and Djibouti’s international airport near Yemen.

The redeployment of critical air defense assets such as THAAD, the transfer of the CVN-70 Carl Vinson the aircraft carrier and its strike group to the Middle East, as well as the recent deployment of at least six B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, suggest that the United States is preparing for a major conflict with Iran in the near future.

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Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase (descent or reentry). The THAAD interceptor carries no warhead, instead relying on its kinetic energy of impact to destroy the incoming missile. THAAD was developed after the experience of Iraq's Scud missile attacks during the Gulf War in 1991. Originally a United States Army program, THAAD has come under the umbrella of the Missile Defense Agency. The Navy has a similar program, the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, which also has a land component ("Aegis Ashore"). THAAD was originally scheduled for deployment in 2012, but initial deployment took place in May 2008. THAAD has been deployed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Israel, Romania, and South Korea.

The MIM-104 Patriot is a mobile interceptor missile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary such system used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar component of the weapon system. The AN/MPQ-53 at the heart of the system is known as the "Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target", which is a backronym for "Patriot". In 1984, the Patriot system began to replace the Nike Hercules system as the U.S. Army's primary high to medium air defense (HIMAD) system and the MIM-23 Hawk system as the U.S. Army's medium tactical air defense system. In addition to these roles, Patriot has been given a function in the U.S. Army's anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system. As of 2016, the system is expected to stay fielded until at least 2040.