Iran said 'we hit', USA denied... What is the strategic importance of critical radar facilities in Bahrain?

Tensions have risen again between the USA and Iran in the Persian Gulf. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that it targeted and destroyed US early warning radar facilities in Bahrain. US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that the attack was unsuccessful.

CENTCOM announced on Friday that two one-way attack UAVs sent by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were shot down by US forces. The statement stated that no injuries or material damage occurred as a result of the attack.

Al Jazeera's Washington correspondent Alan Fisher reported that the statements made by the USA and Iran could not be verified by independent sources.

IRAN: WE RELATED THE ATTACK

Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced that the operation was carried out in response to an air attack on a telecommunications tower in the Hormozgan province in the south of the country.

Iran's official news agency IRNA announced on Thursday, citing authorities, that the port city of Sirik in Hormozgan province was targeted by enemy fire.

In a statement published by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the Revolutionary Guard described the operation in Bahrain as a serious warning against air provocations and oil smuggling activities that it claimed were continuing in the Strait of Hormuz.

"If these violations and acts of aggression are repeated, the Revolutionary Guard Aerospace Forces are fully ready to respond unrestrictedly," the statement said.

Fars News Agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, claimed that Iranian forces targeted and destroyed the US radar facility.

A FIRST SINCE SEPTEMBER

According to Reuters, Iran's statement was the first attack it announced targeting US military assets in a Gulf country since the beginning of September.

Al Jazeera's Tehran correspondent Resul Serdar stated that the USA has previously targeted the telecommunication infrastructure in military facilities in the south of Iran from time to time.

Serdar said that Iran has refrained from directly targeting US military assets in the region in response to these attacks, but the latest development may indicate a change in this attitude.

He stated that whether Iran will continue its attacks on US military facilities in neighboring countries may be decisive in terms of a new wave of war in the region.

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF FACILITIES IN BAHRAIN

Bahrain is one of the strategic centers of the US early warning and missile defense network in the Persian Gulf. The AN/TPS-59(V)3B radar, which was put into service in the country in 2007, was installed within the scope of a 43.6 million dollar agreement signed in 2004, with the aim of detecting ballistic missile threats in advance and strengthening Bahrain's air defense capacity. Open source military inventory records show that the US-operated AN/TPY-2 radar was also located in Bahrain as of 2009.

Technically speaking, these radars are used to detect ballistic missiles from long distances, calculate flight trajectories, identify possible targets and provide early warning to air defense systems. While the AN/TPS-59 has a 360-degree surveillance capacity, the AN/TPY-2 radar operating in the X-band can track objects at a distance of approximately 870 to 3 thousand kilometers, depending on the characteristics of the target and its operating mode. Data obtained from these systems helps missile defense elements such as Patriot, THAAD and Aegis take timely action against threats.