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U.S. Central Command Highlights The Role of F-16 Wild Weasels In Suppressing Iranian Air Defenses.
U.S. Central Command has released images of U.S. Air Force F-16 “Wild Weasel” fighter aircraft conducting combat missions during Operation Epic Fury against Iran’s missile, drone, and air defense networks. The deployment highlights Washington’s focus on suppressing Iranian air defenses to secure air superiority while coordinating operations with Israeli forces.
On February 28, 2026, U.S. Central Command launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran, initiating a large-scale air campaign aimed at dismantling the regime’s missile, drone and air-defense infrastructure. Since then, the tempo of operations has intensified, with CENTCOM now releasing images of U.S. Air Force F-16 “Wild Weasel” fighter aircraft loaded for combat missions into Iranian airspace, offering a rare glimpse into the air component’s suppression and strike strategy. The U.S. Air Force, operating alongside the Israeli Air Force, continues high-tempo air operations to assert control over Iranian airspace. The campaign’s messaging underscores a shift from deterrence to sustained offensive action, with air superiority as its central focus.
U.S. Central Command released images of U.S. Air Force F-16 Wild Weasel fighters conducting suppression missions during Operation Epic Fury, highlighting the role of SEAD aircraft in dismantling Iran’s air defenses and securing air superiority for ongoing U.S. and Israeli strike operations (Picture Source: U.S. CENTCOM)
The newly released imagery shows F-16CJ “Wild Weasel” aircraft configured in a classic Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) and Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (DEAD) loadout, tailored to penetrate and dismantle Iran’s integrated air-defense system. Each aircraft carries a pair of AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles, external fuel tanks under the wings for extended range, and a mixed air-to-air loadout of AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles for beyond-visual-range and within-visual-range engagements. This combination underlines the F-16 “Wild Weasel” as a swing-role platform: in a single sortie, the jet can hunt enemy radars, prosecute time-sensitive ground targets, and defend itself or the package against hostile fighters and drones, all while remaining plugged into the joint air picture via modern datalinks and off-board sensors.
At the heart of this configuration is the AGM-88 HARM paired with the AN/ASQ-213 HARM Targeting System pod on the intake station, a pairing that turns the F-16 “Wild Weasel” into a dedicated radar hunter optimized for SEAD/DEAD missions. The HTS pod passively detects, classifies and geolocates Iranian search and fire-control radars, feeding bearing and range information directly into the HARM’s targeting solution. In practical terms, this enables rapid F2T2EA (Find, Fix, Track, Target, Engage, Assess) cycles against Iranian surface-to-air missile batteries and command posts: as soon as a radar radiates, the aircraft can generate a targeting basket and launch a HARM on a short timeline, forcing Iranian crews either to shut down and lose situational awareness or to risk being destroyed. Over multiple waves, this continuous “Wild Weasel” pressure erodes the integrity of Iran’s layered IADS, opening safe corridors for follow-on strike packages and heavy bombers.
The air-to-air weapons visible on the F-16 “Wild Weasels” underline another pillar of the U.S. approach: maintaining uncontested control of the air domain while executing deep strike operations. AIM-120 AMRAAMs give the F-16 a potent beyond-visual-range engagement capability, allowing it to intercept hostile fighters, cruise missiles or larger UAVs long before they threaten high-value airborne assets such as tankers, AWACS and stand-off jamming aircraft. AIM-9X Sidewinders complement this with high-off-boresight, helmet-cueable performance in close-in engagements, making any attempt by Iranian fighters or drones to close the distance a high-risk proposition. In coordination with Israeli fighters, U.S. F-22s and other coalition aircraft already deployed to the theater, these F-16 “Wild Weasel” packages contribute to a layered offensive counter-air (OCA) and defensive counter-air (DCA) posture designed to deny Iran any meaningful air presence over its own territory during key phases of the campaign.
Equally important in the images is the presence of the AN/AAQ-28 Litening targeting pod mounted on the centerline or intake station, which transforms the F-16 “Wild Weasel” into a high-end precision strike and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform. The Litening pod’s electro-optical and infrared sensors, combined with laser designation and accurate coordinate generation, allow pilots to detect and track mobile transporter-erector-launchers, drone launch sites, and small command nodes even under degraded weather or at night. This is particularly relevant given CENTCOM’s stated focus on eliminating Iran’s mobile missile launch capabilities and other relocatable threats: F-16 “Wild Weasels” equipped with Litening can prosecute dynamic targets in real time, shortening the sensor-to-shooter chain and ensuring that fleeting targets are engaged before they can displace or fire.
The external fuel tanks carried by the F-16 “Wild Weasels”, typically 370-gallon tanks under each wing, highlight the range and endurance requirements of Operation Epic Fury. Strikes into Iran from regional bases demand significant loiter time over or near contested areas to support combat air patrols, on-call SEAD lines and dynamic targeting of missile sites. With tankers supporting the air bridge, these fuel tanks allow F-16 “Wild Weasels” to remain on station longer, cycle between kill boxes, and support multiple engagement opportunities within a single sortie. This endurance is crucial for maintaining continuous air pressure on Iranian forces, ensuring that any attempt to reconstitute radar coverage or move missile assets is met by prompt U.S. air action.
From a tactical perspective, the F-16 “Wild Weasel” packages visible in CENTCOM’s photos fit neatly into a broader joint air campaign architecture structured around a Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC), daily Air Tasking Orders (ATOs) and tightly choreographed mission sets. F-16 “Wild Weasels” in the classic SEAD role likely operate ahead of or alongside strike fighters and bombers, sanitizing ingress routes and suppressing radar coverage along critical axes. In parallel, combat air patrols armed with AMRAAMs establish BVR engagement zones to shield high-value platforms and tankers, while ISR assets and space-based sensors cue F-16 formations toward emerging threats. The net effect is a layered, network-centric battlespace in which Iranian air-defense and air-force elements are systematically isolated, attrited and rendered operationally irrelevant while U.S. and Israeli forces exploit the resulting air superiority to strike higher-priority strategic targets deeper inside Iran.
The decision to highlight F-16 “Wild Weasel” SEAD operations at this stage of Operation Epic Fury sends several clear messages. To Tehran, it underlines that even legacy U.S. fourth-generation fighters, when properly networked and armed, retain overwhelming qualitative superiority and can methodically dismantle Iran’s air defenses despite years of investment in anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities. To regional allies, the imagery demonstrates that Washington is willing and able to employ sustained, high-end air power to neutralize missile and drone threats that jeopardize U.S. forces, Israel, Gulf partners and global shipping routes. And to other adversaries watching the campaign, the performance of F-16 “Wild Weasels” within a joint architecture of fifth-generation fighters, bombers, space assets, cyber operations and one-way attack drones illustrates how the United States can integrate legacy and cutting-edge platforms into a coherent strike ecosystem capable of degrading a sophisticated adversary within days.
As Operation Epic Fury pushes deeper into Iranian territory, the F-16 “Wild Weasels” showcased by CENTCOM encapsulate the core of U.S. airpower: agile, multi-role fighters executing SEAD, strike and air-superiority missions within a tightly networked, joint and combined campaign. With HARM missiles stripping away radar coverage, Litening pods enabling precise engagement of mobile launchers, and AMRAAM- and AIM-9X-armed patrols securing the airspace, the message is unmistakable: the United States, alongside Israel, is prepared to sustain air dominance and systematically dismantle Iran’s capacity to threaten the region with missiles, drones and proxy warfare. For U.S. decision-makers, these images are more than public-affairs products; they are a visible signal that American airpower remains the decisive instrument shaping the strategic environment over Iran, and that the campaign will continue until the regime’s offensive capabilities are severely reduced and its ability to challenge U.S. and allied forces from the air is fundamentally broken.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.