By Gloria Ogbonna
During Friday’s broadcast of The Ingraham Angle on the Fox News Channel, Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) pushed back against criticism of the U.S. military’s air campaign over Iran, arguing that American forces have “largely established air superiority” even though isolated threats remain.
Host Laura Ingraham questioned Sheehy about skepticism surrounding the administration’s earlier claims that U.S. forces had achieved near-total control of Iranian airspace. Reports of continued aerial threats and aircraft losses, she noted, have led critics to doubt whether Iranian air defenses were truly neutralized.
“Throughout the day, we kept hearing that the administration claimed near complete air superiority, almost total air superiority, across Iran — that we had knocked out all of their defenses,” Ingraham said. “But obviously, we have not. What do you say to the skeptics?”
In response, Sheehy acknowledged that while U.S. forces have significantly degraded Iran’s air defense network, eliminating every potential threat in a conflict zone is unrealistic.
“It’s accurate to say we’ve largely debilitated their ability to control their airspace,” Sheehy said. “Their integrated air defense systems have largely been destroyed.”
However, he emphasized that certain low-tech and mobile systems remain difficult to eliminate entirely. Among them are MANPADS — man-portable air-defense systems — which are shoulder-fired missile systems that can be carried and concealed by individual troops.
“These are literally shoulder-carried missile systems that ground troops can hide in trucks, in homes, in caves,” Sheehy explained. “They can pop out and fire at aircraft with little warning.”
He also pointed to vehicle-based air defense platforms that are highly mobile and capable of evading detection. According to Sheehy, such systems are nearly impossible to completely eradicate, even with advanced surveillance and strike capabilities.
“There will always be systems that evade our ability to detect and destroy every single one of them,” he said.
Despite the ongoing risks, Sheehy maintained that the broader strategic picture favors U.S. forces. He compared current aircraft losses to those sustained during the Gulf War, arguing that the scale of losses today is significantly smaller.
“We lost far more aircraft during the same period in the first Gulf War,” Sheehy noted, suggesting that the present operation reflects improved capabilities and operational effectiveness.
In his view, the overall degradation of Iran’s centralized air defense network amounts to a meaningful military achievement.
“I think it’s accurate to say we’ve largely established air superiority,” Sheehy concluded.
The remarks highlight the ongoing debate over how success is measured in modern air campaigns, particularly when facing a mix of conventional defense systems and decentralized, mobile threats that can persist even after major infrastructure is destroyed.
Source Breitbart
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