Reviews from a number of sources point out that Iranian ballistic missile strikes efficiently focused and destroyed air defence radars in Bahrain and Qatar, following the launch of U.S. and Israeli assaults on Iranian targets earlier within the day on February 28. Bahrain is the everlasting base of the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet, whereas Qatar within the 2010s emerged as the first hub for U.S. Armed Forces’ operations within the Center East. The biggest army facility within the Qatar, Al Udeid Air Base, had beforehand been singled out for a restricted Iranian strike on June 23, 2025, in response to a restricted U.S. assault on Iranian nuclear amenities. Chinese language satellite tv for pc imagery in early February uncovered the precise positions of an Army MIM-104 Patriot air defence system on the facility, earlier than later confirming deployments of at the very least 16 KC-135 aerial refuelling plane and plenty of RC-135 reconnaissance plane there. The plane had been reportedly withdrawn on February 25-27, probably to U.S. bases in Turkey.
The capabilities of air defences in Qatar towards even restricted Iranian missile assaults has lengthy been in query. Though U.S. defence officers initially praised the success of U.S. Army and Qatari Air Drive MIM-104 Patriot air defence methods in defending Al Udeid Air Base had been profitable on June 23, it was later conceded by Pentagon sources that regardless of Iran having used much less superior Fateh-313 missiles to launch the assault, the methods weren’t absolutely profitable. This admission was madefollowing the discharge of satellite tv for pc footage which appeared to indicate the destruction of a radome housing the modernisation enterprise terminal communications suite, which had a worth of roughly $15 million. After this was uncovered by the footage, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed in mid-July: “One Iranian ballistic missile impacted Al Udeid Air Base June 23 whereas the rest of the missiles had been intercepted by U.S. and Qatari air defence methods.”
The failure of missile defences in June 2025 was significantly notable not solely as a result of they had been closely concentrated at and round Al Udeid Air Base by two separate providers coordinating their defences, which represented an unusually excessive focus of interceptors and radars, but additionally as a result of Iran had given the U.S. Armed Forces prior warning of the strike. This has lengthy led analysts to venture {that a} viable defence of the U.S. and its strategic companions’ property throughout the Center East is not going to be potential within the occasion of a big scale battle. It stays unsure, however extremely potential, that the destruction of ballistic missile defence radars might considerably additional impede U.S., Qatari and Bahraini forces’ capacity to conduct missile defence operations. The U.S. Army has closely depleted its stockpiles of surface-to-air missiles for the Patriot system, which in July 2025 had been confirmed to have fallen to simply 25 p.c of the quantity deemed crucial by the Pentagon, largely because of the scale of donations of the methods and related munitions made to Ukraine by the Joe Biden administration from 2023-2024. This has additional restricted its capacity to maintain shootdowns of Iranian ballistic missiles, significantly towards ahead positioned amenities like Al Udeid Air Base.
