4 combat firsts as US flexes military might in Iran war

During the first few days of the U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran, the Pentagon has deployed multiple assets for the first time in major combat. 

Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command (Centcom), said Tuesday in a video on the social platform X that American forces have struck nearly 2,000 Iranian targets, including 17 Iranian navy ships, since “Operation Epic Fury” began Saturday.

Six U.S. service members have been killed in combat so far — after Iran attacked a tactical operations center in Kuwait on Sunday.

Here is a look at some notable military firsts in the war:

AI used in major combat operations

Multiple outlets have reported that the military is using Anthropic’s Claude AI tool for the operation against Iran, despite the Pentagon and President Trump battling with the company over guardrails on its technology.

Claude was also used in the January raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. But Iran marks the first time the AI tool has been used in major combat operations.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Centcom uses Claude for intelligence assessments, target identification and simulating battle scenarios. Claude is specifically embedded into the military’s Maven Smart System, according to The Washington Post.

The system, built by Palantir, uses AI to provide the military with a “live, synchronized view of the battlespace,” according to the software firm. That “significantly reduces the time and manpower required for targeting operations,” the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance says. 

The Army tested the system via its “Scarlet Dragon” exercises dating back to 2020, according to the alliance. That first year, it took 12 hours to pass targeting data. Now, it takes less than a minute. 

LUCAS kamikaze drones

On Saturday, the first day of the operation, Centcom wrote on X that Task Force Scorpion Strike deployed one-way attack drones, or “kamikaze drones,” in combat for the first time.

“These low-cost drones, modeled after Iran’s Shahed drones, are now delivering American-made retribution,” it wrote.

In December, Centcom launched a task force to deliver low-cost unmanned combat attack system (LUCAS) drones to U.S. forces. That came nearly five months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was “rescinding restrictive policies” that slowed drone production.

The LUCAS drones have “an extensive range and are designed to operate autonomously,” the command said in a December release. “They can be launched with different mechanisms to include catapults, rocket-assisted takeoff, and mobile ground and vehicle systems.”

Cooper said Tuesday that the drones “were originally an Iranian design” that the U.S. improved on and “fired them right back on Iran.”

The Navy’s Fifth Fleet, part of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, launched the LUCAS drone for the first time later in December.

Mark 48 torpedo sinks warship

Hegseth said at Wednesday’s briefing that an American submarine sunk an Iranian navy ship “that thought it was safe” in international waters.

“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” the Pentagon chief added. “Quiet death.”

Hegseth noted that it marked the first sinking of an enemy ship via torpedo since World War II. The Defense Department also shared a video of the torpedo striking the ship in the Indian Ocean on X.

Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine said later in the briefing the U.S. submarine fired a single Mark 48 torpedo to “achieve immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.” 

The torpedo, abbreviated as MK 48, is a “heavyweight acoustic-homing torpedo with sophisticated sonar, all-digital guidance-and-control systems, digital fusing systems, and propulsion improvements,” according to the Navy. The latest version of the MK 48 is the MOD 7, which was developed via a joint program with the Royal Australian Navy.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi identified the sunken vessel as the frigate IRIS Dena, which he said was 2,000 miles from Iran’s shores and carrying nearly 130 sailors.

“Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,” Araghchi wrote on X.

New PrSM ballistic missile

Centcom wrote Wednesday on X that the Army fired long-range precision strike missiles (PrSM) during the operation in a “historic first.” The command added that the missiles provide “an unrivaled deep strike capability.” 

PrSMs deliver “enhanced capabilities to attack, neutralize, suppress and destroy targets using missile-delivered indirect fires” from 37 to more than 300 miles away, according to defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin’s Army Tactical Missile System, by contrast, can hit targets from up to 186 miles away.

The company said in October that the Army successfully tested PrSMs in New Mexico and they met criteria for “lethality, range and accuracy from launch to impact.”

In announcing the use of PrSMs, Centcom shared a video of launchers firing the missiles into the sky, emitting plumes of brown and white smoke. 

“I just could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform leveraging innovation to create dilemmas for the enemy,” Cooper said Tuesday.

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