An F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 31, launches from the flight deck of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, while supporting Operation Epic Fury, Feb. 28, 2026. (U.S. Navy)
U.S. Central Command said Sunday that in the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, American forces have used more than 20 types of aircraft, ships, missiles and other weapons systems to hit more than 1,000 targets.
“Operation Epic Fury involves the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation,” the command said in a statement.
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that it had dropped more than 1,200 munitions across Iran during the attacks that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, and other top political and defense officials.
The U.S. has used more than 20 different systems, including Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II jets, EA-18G Growler electronic warfare planes, MQ-9 Reaper unmanned missile-launching drones and the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
“And special capabilities that can’t be listed,” the command said in a statement.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 41, launches from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury, Mar. 1, 2026. (U.S. Navy)
An EA-18G Growler, attached to Electronic Attack Squadron 133, prepares to launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury, March 1, 2026. (U.S. Navy)
Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, said all branches of the U.S. armed forces — Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Space Force and Coast Guard — were involved in the attack on Iran and defense of U.S. installations and allies.
Iran has retaliated against U.S. bases and Israel by firing a mix of medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones — often in coordinated waves, U.S. military and media sources said Sunday.
Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have reported being targeted or hit by Iranian attacks.
CENTCOM has released video and photos of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner firing Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iranian targets and the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. firing a volley of Standard Missiles, which are used to knock down enemy aircraft, missiles and drones.
“If you are firing a Standard missile, you are firing at a moving target — an aircraft, missile, cruise missile or drone,” said Michael Fabey, an analyst in the Washington bureau of Janes USA, a defense information company.
Fabey said the U.S. has learned to fight missiles and drones built by Iran during previous fights with Iran and its proxies. The fight with Houthi-backed rebels in the Red Sea last year “was the most kinetic warfare the U.S. has fought since World War II,” he said.
The Aegis Combat System on U.S. destroyers was designed to counter missiles with an arcing trajectory toward targets. The Houthis also used drones, which can attack in circling or curving patterns.
“The Navy learned a lot from the experience in the Red Sea and have certainly incorporated those lessons in its countermeasures,” Fabey said. “I don’t think they are facing anything this weekend they haven’t seen before from the Iranians.”
Fabey said the U.S. Navy’s EA-18G Growlers are exceptionally efficient at knocking out missile and air defense systems in the earlier conflicts with Iran.
“But Iran has a large missile force, and I wouldn’t expect them to use everything they have immediately,” Fabey said. “So, this could go on for a while.”
Most of the missiles and drones fired by Iran have been knocked down by U.S., Israeli and Gulf State anti-missile systems, though dozens of others have made it through to strike targets.
Photos of the attack on the naval installation in Bahrain that includes the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters show the silhouette of an Iranian ballistic missile just before impact. Video of an attack targeting what appears to be a radar station in Bahrain shows the distinct, slower descent of a triangular-shaped drone, likely a Shahed-136.
The Shahed, whose name means “witness” in Persian, was also seen hitting targets in the United Arab Emirates and in Doha, Qatar.
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense said that on the first day of the conflict, Iran fired 137 missiles and 209 drones at or across the UAE. Damage was reported at the Palm Jumeirah and Burj al-Arab luxury high-rise developments.
Officials said some of the damage was caused by debris from missiles or drones that were successfully intercepted.
Al Jazeera, an independent news agency in the Qatari capital, Doha, reported that since the conflict began, one person had been killed and seven injured at Abu Dhabi’s airport. Airports in Dubai and Kuwait were also damaged.
CENTCOM announced Saturday that it had introduced the LUCAS (low-cost unmanned combat attack system) drone to combat. Built by the Arizona-based SpektreWorks, it’s a reverse-engineered version of the Shahed-136, according to CENTCOM.
LUCAS offensive drones — reverse engineered from the Iranian Shahed-136 — were introduced to combat in Operation Epic Fury, according to U.S. Central Command. (U.S. Central Command)
A British Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter reported shooting down an Iranian drone it intercepted heading toward Qatar. Britain dispatched a squadron of Typhoon fighters to Qatar at the beginning of the year to aid in air defense of the country.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, released a report on the war Sunday in which it said a “decapitation campaign targeting senior Iranian leadership” was a key to disrupting the counter-attack’s command and control from Iranian forces.
However, the New York Times and other news outlets reported that prior to Khamenei’s death, the Iranian leader had planned for the possibility by creating a network of deputies and lieutenants who were given the authority to launch attacks if he was killed or could not be contacted.
