Iran has destroyed a key $300 million radar system crucial to directing US missile defense batteries in the Gulf that risks further straining the region’s ability to counter future attacks, according to a US official
The US has eight THAAD systems globally, including in South Korea and Guam. The batteries cost about $1 billion each, with the radar comprising about $300 million of that, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“These are scarce strategic resources and its loss is a huge blow,” said Tom Karako, a missile defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Army’s current “eight-battery force is still below the force structure requirements of nine set back in 2012, so there aren’t exactly any spare TPY-2 lying around,” he said.

Satellite photos show that an RTX Corp. AN/TPY-2 radar and support equipment — used by US THAAD missile defense systems — was destroyed at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan in the opening days of the war, CNN reported earlier, citing commercial satellite imagery. The destruction of the equipment was later confirmed by a US official.

Data gathered by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank show two reported Iranian strikes in Jordan: one on Feb. 28 and one on March 3. Both were reported to have been intercepted.

Air and missile defense systems in the Gulf region have been stressed and, at times, overwhelmed by Iranian retaliatory attacks of drones and ballistic missiles. It has prompted fears that stockpiles of advanced interceptors such as THAAD and PAC-3 will soon run dangerously low.
Source: Bloomberg