Sending one of the U.S. Army’s seven prized Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries to Israel highlights the strain on the service’s air defense systems and personnel, which are increasingly deployed around the globe. This is a glaring issue we explored in-depth nearly a year ago, which you can read about here. Since then, the demand for these systems has only increased, especially now that Israel and Iran are trading escalating blows and as the threat from China looms larger in the Pacific with each passing day. The deteriorating security situation in Europe and Ukraine’s massive appetite for air defenses is also a major factor stressing America’s organic air defense capacity.
While the deployment of the THAAD battery and about 100 soldiers to Israel will not add “a tremendous amount of additional strain broadly to the community…the air defense artillery community is the most stressed,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters Monday, including from The War Zone. “They have the highest [operational tempo]…and what we are trying to do to manage that is two things.”
The first is “modernizing our integrated air and missile defenses to try to create more capacity,” said Wormuth, speaking at a reporter’s roundtable at the 2024 AUSA Conference in Washington D.C. One step toward that goal is moving toward the integration of the Patriot battery’s new Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) into the Army’s Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) network.
LTAMDS is designed to provide higher-fidelity sensing capability at much further distances and process a wider array of data more quickly than the Patriot’s current radar. It can also offer 360-degree coverage, which the current system cannot. The IBCS connects various sensors to effectors like, gun systems, lasers, missile systems, and electronic warfare capabilities and combines all this data on the entire air defense situation into a single actionable ‘picture’ for operators. The combination is meant to give air defenders a much greater ability to better react to and if necessary shoot down a multitude of threats at once.
“That will greatly increase the capacity of the existing Patriot force that we have, and that will help reduce some of the stress on our soldiers,” the Secretary explained.
Patriot batteries are especially stretched, with the need for training, testing, maintenance and upgrades back at home competing with increasing obligations abroad.
The other line of effort is “constantly trying to be disciplined as we can” in providing inputs to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin so he can “accurately assess the strain on the force when he’s considering future operational deployment. We have to be as choosy as we can be about what we take on.”
That is easier said than done, however.
In this case, the THAAD battery and troops are being sent to bolster Israel’s defenses as it faces glaringly real ballistic missile threats from Iran and some of the higher-end ballistic missiles Iran has provided Hezbollah. The announcement of its pending delivery comes ahead of an expected Israeli retaliation for Tehran’s massive missile barrage earlier this month. You can see part of that attack in the following video.
“I think we should view this THAAD deployment as for what it is, which is another visible statement of our commitment to the security of Israel…” Wormuth said.
A THAAD battery can include up to nine transporter-erector-launchers, each carrying eight interceptors at the ready, as well as a long-range AN/TPY-2 X-band radar, a mobile fire control and command and control center, and various supporting equipment. Additional interceptors would be available to reload the launchers during a combat deployment, as well.
THAAD is designed to intercept short-, medium, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their terminal phase of flight when they are plunging toward their target. The system sits at the top-end of air defense systems capable of terminal phase air defense, which include Patriot, the SM-6, and Israel’s Stunner. THAAD can reach up higher and is capable of swatting down faster threats, like longer-range ballistic missiles. The system made its first combat kill in 2020, defending the United Arab Emirates from a ballistic missile launched by Houthi rebels of Yemen.
THAADs are in short supply and extremely high demand.
In addition to the THAAD battery being sent to Israel, the Army shipped a THAAD battery to the Middle East region shortly after the surprise Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas incursion into southern Israel amid fears that the conflict could erupt into a regional war. In addition, two more are also deployed outside of the continental United States, one in South Korea and one on the U.S. island of Guam in the Western Pacific. THAAD has also been sent on deployments to Europe in recent years. The Army is currently hoping to field an eighth THAAD battery by 2025.
This is not the first time THAAD has been sent to Israel. As we reported in March 2019, the first time was part of a Pentagon effort to be able to quickly deploy capabilities and keep adversaries from having too much foreknowledge about U.S. military plans. THAAD’s arrival there and the following exercises were very much to prepare for a similar situation as what Israel is facing now and Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities have only grown more potent over the last half decade.
Though a full THAAD battery was deployed to Israel for the first time five years ago, members of the U.S. Army’s 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command have maintained the system’s long-range AN/TPY-2 X-band radar at a so-called “cooperative security location” known as Site 512 in Israel’s Negev Desert permanently at least since 2012. This little talked about arrangement means THAAD could deploy without the need to move its staple sensor system there.
While Israel faces numerous aerial threats from Hezbollah, the Houthis and various Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, deploying a THAAD battery at this point seems to be a clear signal to Tehran that not only does the U.S. have Israel’s back, but it is willing to put additional troops and prized materiel on the ground to defend it. The U.S. has been building up capabilities in the region for months now, including other missile defense assets, namely destroyers capable of midcourse intercept of ballistic missiles, in an effort to deter Iran and be better ready to respond should a wider conflict erupt in the region.
All that being said, given its capabilities, the THAAD battery would make a prime target for Iran or any of its proxies. But it will also be among the most defended assets in the region and Iran is already fully aware of Israel’s strategic missile defense assets and installations. Still, with additional U.S. troops now in harms way, the possibility for a conflict widening if they are harmed is certainly elevated.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com