The War Department began its strike campaign, known as Operation Epic Fury, on Feb. 28. The operation targeted key government and military sites, including command and control facilities, ballistic missile locations, and a compound where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was meeting with senior advisers.
U.S. and Iranian officials have since confirmed Khamenei’s death. The campaign relied on a combination of military capabilities across multiple domains, including air, sea, cyber, and space.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine said space and cyber forces initiated the operation by disrupting Iran’s ability to coordinate a response. He told reporters during a March 2 Pentagon briefing: “The first movers were U.S. SPACECOM and U.S. CYBERCOM, layering nonkinetic effects, disrupting and degrading Iran’s ability to see, communicate, and respond.”
Caine later added that these actions successfully disrupted Iran’s sensor and communications networks. The effects allowed other military forces to conduct large-scale strikes during the opening phase of the operation.
Unlike aircraft or naval vessels, space capabilities are often invisible during military operations. However, they can play a critical role in enabling communication, navigation, targeting, and battlefield awareness.
Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, head of the Space Force’s Combat Forces Command, previously emphasized the central role of space capabilities in modern warfare. Speaking on Feb. 25 at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado, he compared space capabilities to a key ingredient in baking.
“We’re baked in everything,” Gagnon said. “If you love cookies and you love brownies, we’re actually the flour. You don’t see us, but you need us.”
Pentagon officials have acknowledged that space capabilities have supported several recent U.S. military operations. These include last year’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and a January mission aimed at capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Although officials have not disclosed the exact systems used, Gagnon previously identified several critical capability areas. These include a global sensor network of ground-based telescopes and radars located on every continent except Antarctica, intelligence forces, and electronic warfare assets operating both in the United States and abroad.
According to Charles Galbreath, senior resident fellow for space studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, space operations likely played a key role in preparing the battlefield before Operation Epic Fury began. U.S. Space Forces Central, the Space Force component supporting U.S. Central Command, likely contributed to planning efforts to ensure space capabilities were integrated into the operation.
Space operators may have focused on strengthening U.S. navigation and communications systems against possible interference. At the same time, they may have attempted to disrupt Iran’s own navigation and satellite communications capabilities.
“If Iran was using satellite communications, which I suspect they would, we want to be able to deny those, to confuse their command and control,” Galbreath told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Space Force electromagnetic warfare units have supported similar operations in the past. During Operation Midnight Hammer last June, when B-2 bombers struck Iranian nuclear facilities with bunker-busting weapons, those units helped ensure the bombers could safely engage their targets.
Mission Delta 3, the Space Force unit responsible for electromagnetic warfare capabilities, operates several systems for such missions. Among them is the Remote Modular Terminal, a deployable jammer developed by the Space Rapid Capabilities Office.
Galbreath said U.S. Space Command likely relied heavily on missile warning and defense systems to protect against possible Iranian retaliation. Data from these sensors would normally be combined with intelligence gathered by the National Reconnaissance Office.
“What comes to mind first is missile warning capabilities that can cue either intercept aircraft or ground-based missile defense systems or ship-based missile defense systems to support the shoot-down of those incoming attacks,” he said. “And then, if they have cyber capabilities as well, we want to make sure that we can defend our networks against their attacks.”
Galbreath described Iran’s counterspace capabilities as still developing. He suggested the country may possess basic jamming or spoofing technology designed to interfere with satellite signals.
“It’s not terribly hard to understand the frequencies that we’re operating at and develop a noise generator at those frequencies to be a brute force jammer,” he said. “Anything more sophisticated than that, I would have to question if it’s an Iranian capability or if it’s something that’s been handed to them by another country.”
Since the start of U.S. strikes, multiple reports have indicated disruptions affecting navigation systems in the region. Ships operating in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil shipping route, have reportedly experienced interference with GPS and Automatic Identification System signals.
