This article was originally published on U.S. Space Command magazine Apogee, on March 4, 2026.
In the predawn darkness before Operation Epic Fury burst into public view, the first blows against Iran were struck by forces orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth. What unfolded, before the obliteration of hundreds of targets, Pentagon officials say, was the onset of major combat operations in space and cyberspace.
“As always, operational security was paramount as we sought to maintain and sustain the element of surprise,” U.S. Air Force General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing March 2. “The first movers were U.S. CYBERCOM and U.S. SPACECOM, layering non-kinetic effects, disrupting and degrading and blinding Iran’s ability to see, communicate, and respond.”
By the time more than 100 U.S. aircraft roared into action at 01:15 Eastern Daylight Time — 09:45 in Tehran — the battlespace already had been shaped. Radar networks were strained. Communications were disrupted. Sensors were confused. The enemy’s decision-making cycle had been slowed before the first Tomahawk missiles were fired from Navy destroyers in the region, Gen. Caine and U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
“This was a massive, overwhelming attack across all domains of warfare, striking more than 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours,” Gen. Caine said.
Operation Epic Fury, ordered by President Donald Trump and executed under U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), has been described by defense leaders as one of the most complex joint operations in recent memory. But its most consequential moves may have come before the public saw a single explosion.
Among the combatant commands “directly involved,” Gen. Caine highlighted U.S. Space Command and U.S. Cyber Command, emphasizing their integrated role alongside air and maritime forces. In support of the strikes, he said, “U.S. CYBERCOM and SPACECOM continuously layered effects to disrupt, disorient, and confuse the enemy.”
Those “non-kinetic effects” were designed to fragment command-and-control systems and degrade air defenses, he said. Cyber operators can penetrate networks, map critical nodes, and position capabilities to disable or corrupt communications at a chosen moment. In parallel, space operators safeguard U.S. satellite communications and positioning, navigation and timing services, while potentially interfering with an adversary’s access to its own satellite-enabled capabilities.
The objective was to ensure that when aircraft and missiles arrive, they encounter a disoriented opponent. “At H-hour,” Gen. Caine said, “the skies surged life” as fighters, tankers, airborne early warning aircraft, electronic attack platforms, bombers from the United States and unmanned systems formed “a single synchronized wave.” U.S. Navy ships launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, while forces on the ground fired precision stand-off weapons.
But the kinetic assault rested on the foundation laid by cyber and space forces. Gen. Caine described the campaign as “major combat operations” that remain ongoing. He stressed that cyber and space efforts were not a one-time prelude but part of a sustained campaign.
“Coordinated space and cyber operations effectively disrupted communications and sensor networks across the area of responsibility, leaving the adversary without the ability to see, coordinate or respond effectively,” he said.
That disruption carried into the defensive phase. Iranian retaliation included ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones, according to Pentagon officials. Space-enabled missile warning systems — relying on infrared satellites to detect launches within seconds — fed data into a layered air and missile defense network stretching across the region.
“Our integrated air and missile defense network is performing exactly as it’s intended,” Gen. Caine said during the briefing. “Collectively, these systems have intercepted hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting U.S. forces, our partners and regional stability … The threat from one way attack UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] has remained persistent.”
Air defense batteries operating from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have been tied together with U.S. Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems, creating a distributed shield dependent on resilient satellite communications and data links, Military.com reported.
Gen. Caine framed Operation Epic Fury as the culmination of “months and in some cases years of deliberate planning and refinement against this particular target set.” He said the campaign demonstrated not just firepower but integration. “Across every domain, land, air, sea, cyber, the U.S. Joint Force delivered synchronized and layered effects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny, and destroy Iran’s ability to conduct and sustain combat operations.”
