13:59 28-04-2026

Iran’s IR Missiles Pose Hidden Threat to US Aircraft

Infrared-guided missiles give Iran a stealth advantage, allowing passive targeting and enabling mass-launch tactics against aircraft, The National Interest reports.

Iran’s infrared-guided air defense missiles are inexpensive to produce, easy to operate, and pose a lethal threat to US aircraft, The National Interest reports.

The publication notes that there are several main types of air defense missiles. These include infrared-guided systems that track the heat signature of an aircraft engine, radar-guided missiles that rely on radar data, and manually guided missiles controlled by an operator during flight. Modern systems often combine multiple guidance methods depending on the situation.

Infrared-guided missiles are highlighted as particularly significant, as they have provided Iran with an asymmetric advantage in Operation «Epic Fury.» Unlike radar-guided systems, they operate passively and do not emit signals, making them harder to detect. As a result, targets are not alerted to a lock-on and may only detect the threat at a late stage, when evasion becomes difficult. These missiles are also simpler to use and more affordable.

According to the report, Iran possesses thousands of such missiles and can quickly scale up production. Their low cost and availability allow for mass-launch tactics, where multiple missiles are fired simultaneously to overwhelm enemy air defense systems.