March 30, 2026
Iran Shows the Emerging Crisis of the U.S. Airborne Battle Management Fleet
This article was originally published in Breaking Defense.
Whether responding to Russian or Iranian drone incursions, patrolling the Red Sea, or bolstering situational awareness off Venezuelan coastlines, airborne battle management (ABM) aircraft like the E-2s, E-3s, and E-7s are in high demand.
Operation Epic Fury has further highlighted ABM aircraft’s indispensable role: coordination in a congested and dynamic airspace, and an unmatched ability to identify and orchestrate responses to low-flying drones and cruise missiles. But the operation has also thrown the spotlight on the dilemmas of a limited fleet — even before an E-3 was reportedly damaged by Iranian weapons.
The ABM force structure crisis comes at an acute moment for US air operations.
While drone and cruise missile threats are abundant, the United States lacks enough available and updated ABM aircraft to support its defense priorities. Instead of resourcing solutions to this challenge, the Department of Defense has aggravated the issue by attempting to cancel future ABM systems in favor of unproven or unequal alternatives.
Without a change of approach, the United States risks under-resourcing one of its most important enablers at a time when the effectiveness of air operations is at a strategic premium.
Read the full article in Breaking Defense.
More from CNAS
-
U.S.-Iran War Risks Repeated Cycles of Fighting
Video
Shifting US objectives and neither side able to secure a decisive military victory make a lasting resolution difficult and Bloomberg Economics Defense Lead and adjunct senior ...
By Becca Wasser
-
Iran and the U.S. Are Trapped In a War Neither Knows How to Win
Commentary
Both the US and Iran have adopted military strategies that can prevent defeat but cannot produce a decisive victory....
By Becca Wasser
-
GenAI.mil and Three Implications for National Security’s AI Era
Commentary
Introduction Roughly six months ago, the Department of War (DoW) launched its internal platform for hosting generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, known as GenAI.mil....
By Joshua Marcuse
-
Inside Taiwan’s Plan to Deter a Chinese Invasion
Video
As Taiwan runs its largest annual war games this week, we look at its strategy of overwhelming any Chinese invasion force with mass-produced, low-cost drones. It's a defense s...
By Stacie Pettyjohn
