US jets flying deep into Iranian skies: Gen Caine

Washington:US fighter aircraft are operating deep inside Iranian airspace with “relative impunity” after much of Iran’s advanced air defence network was neutralised during the first phase of Washington’s military campaign, the Pentagon said.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters that many of Iran’s higher-end surface-to-air missile systems were no longer posing a significant threat to US aircraft as Operation Epic Fury entered its second week.

“Most of their higher-end surface-to-air missile systems are not factors at this point in time,” Caine said during a press briefing at the Pentagon alongside Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

“We’re able to move around fighters that are moving deeper with relative impunity.”

The remarks offered one of the clearest indications yet from US military leaders that Iran’s air defence capability has been severely degraded after days of intensive American air strikes across the country.

Caine said the US-led campaign had already struck more than 5,000 targets since the operation began, including missile launch sites, drone facilities, and other military infrastructure across Iran.

“US Strategic Command bombers recently dropped dozens of 2,000 pound GPS penetrating weapons on deeply buried missile launchers across the southern flank,” he said.

American forces have also targeted Iran’s drone manufacturing network.

“We also have struck several one-way drone factories to get at the heart of their autonomous capability,” Caine added.

According to the Pentagon, the sustained air campaign has sharply reduced the number of missile and drone attacks launched by Iran since the conflict began.

“Ballistic missile attacks continue to trend downward 90 per cent from where they’ve started,” Caine said.

He added that “one way attack drones have decreased 83 per cent since the beginning of the operation”.

The campaign has also focused on crippling Iran’s naval capabilities in the Gulf.

“We’re more than 50 Iranian naval ships into the campaign using a combination of artillery, fighters, bombers, and sea-launched missiles,” the chairman said.

Among the vessels destroyed was an Iranian drone carrier ship that had been used to support unmanned aerial operations.

Pentagon officials said the air dominance achieved by the United States was allowing aircraft to push deeper inside Iranian territory to strike military production facilities and infrastructure tied to missile and drone development.

“We have begun to target Iran’s military and industrial complex,” Caine said, adding that the strikes were aimed at “production facilities, research and development sites and infrastructure”.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the campaign was delivering “overwhelming and unrelenting precision” as US forces moved to dismantle Iran’s missile programme and military capabilities.

“We’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force,” Hegseth said.

He said the operation remained focused on three core objectives: destroying Iran’s missile stockpiles and launchers, crippling its navy, and ensuring the regime could never obtain nuclear weapons.

“We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated,” Hegseth said.

At the same time, the chairman cautioned that combat risks remained despite the weakening of Iran’s air defences.

“Always some risk out there. I don’t want to say that there isn’t,” Caine said, adding that US forces retained the ability to conduct search and rescue operations if aircraft were threatened.

The Pentagon also said the campaign was continuing to evolve as Iranian forces adapted their tactics on the battlefield.

“They’re adapting, as are we,” Caine said, adding, “I think they’re fighting, and I respect that, but I don’t think they’re more formidable than what we thought.”

IANS