Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Blocked Silos: Why Iran Can No Longer Fire Its Most Dangerous Missiles
JFeed ^ | 7 April 2026 | Eliana Fleming

Posted on 04/07/2026 9:06:57 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan

Since the beginning of the war, the Iranian regime has seen a massive reduction in its ability to launch ballistic missiles toward Israel. At the start of the engagement, Tehran was capable of firing more than 90 missiles a day, but recent data reveals that this number has plummeted to just 10 per day over the last week. This decline is the result of a relentless pursuit by the Israeli Air Force and intelligence branches, which have systematically hunted down both fixed and mobile launchers. Defense Minister Israel Katz has prioritized the achievement of total aerial superiority, allowing Israeli jets to conduct an effective "hunt" across Iranian territory, targeting fire arrays, regime sites, and the nuclear project.

Breaking the Fire Array

The successful degradation of Iran's missile capabilities is attributed to several key factors. First, the opening strike of the war, which saw 40 senior officials neutralized in just 40 seconds, dealt a crushing blow to the regime's command structure. Following this, waves of air strikes destroyed a significant percentage of the Guard's missile stockpiles and launchers. Furthermore, Israel has employed a strategy of "clogging" underground launch sites, targeting the entrances and even the bulldozers attempting to repair them. This persistent surveillance has prevented the regime from utilizing its extensive network of hardened silos buried deep beneath the earth.

The most challenging part of the mission has been the "mobile launcher hunt." By tracking and destroying individual launch crews and their vehicles, the IDF has created a sense of chaos and paranoia within the Revolutionary Guard’s ranks. A senior Air Force officer noted that his teams are destroying one to two missile batteries every single day, describing the situation as a "war of wits" against an enemy attempting to conduct missile guerrilla warfare. As morale drops and resources dwindle, the Iranian leadership faces a dire dilemma regarding how many of their remaining missiles they can afford to fire, as they no longer have the capacity to manufacture new ones during the ongoing war.


TOPICS: Hamas; Hezbollah; News/Current Events; War; War on Terror; Yemen
KEYWORDS: hamas; hezbollah; iran; irgc; israel; missilelaunchers; missiles; waronterror; yemen
Message from Jim Robinson:

Dear FRiends,

We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.

If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you,

Jim


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-32 next last

1 posted on 04/07/2026 9:06:57 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: MeanWestTexan

I’d hold my tongue...They just shot down 2 planes with hand held missiles...and that’s old technology. My son was testing them 40 years ago...


2 posted on 04/07/2026 9:09:10 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MeanWestTexan

They’ve dug their own graves.
All that’s left to do is fill them in.


3 posted on 04/07/2026 9:09:48 AM PDT by tsomer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tsomer

I think that’s a better line than Trump’s ‘a civilization will die’ tonight.


4 posted on 04/07/2026 9:13:05 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (q)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

A lot has changed. Sipposedly they are nee. I think we got a little over confident too.


5 posted on 04/07/2026 9:14:03 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (... )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Are you typing with one finger?? And no coffee??


6 posted on 04/07/2026 9:15:20 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Attention Surplus Disorder
I think that’s a better line than Trump’s ‘a civilization will die’ tonight.

In that same post Trump said God bless the Iranian people. Evidently the "civilization will die" line was about infrastructure -- taking their civilization out of the 21st century.

7 posted on 04/07/2026 9:23:29 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

A military guy said shooting down 1 or 2 out of 20,000 sorties flown is not something to worry about. (Google golden bb.) And he also said, even then they will review what happened and make any needed changes to avoid any more of that.


8 posted on 04/07/2026 9:24:27 AM PDT by norcal joe ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

The article is about BALLISTIC MISSILES.

Read the article.

Read it again. Use a dictionary if any of the words are unfamiliar to you.

Then ask yourself: Does talking about hand-held very short-range surface to air missiles, in the context of an article about medium range surface to surface ballistic missiles, make any kind of sense at all?


9 posted on 04/07/2026 9:28:49 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: sauropod

.


10 posted on 04/07/2026 9:31:18 AM PDT by sauropod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MeanWestTexan

The article says blocked silos.

What if those missiles and their silos are utterly destroyed? Like blown up, caved in, buried, broken concrete and twisted rusty rebar, collapsed, stove in, wrecked, cratered, obliterated and gone?

That seems stronger than “blocked”.


11 posted on 04/07/2026 9:34:39 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Conservatives can't afford to sit out. Vote like your freedom depends on it, it does!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NorthMountain

The two planes shot down were via the hand held missiles. It belongs in this article here to show that there are alternatives to their ballistic missiles.....and Iran proved it.


12 posted on 04/07/2026 9:36:28 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

Handheld surface to air rockets are not substitutes for long range ballistic ballistic missiles. A Philips head screwdriver is not an alternative to an Allen wrench, if the job is too secure an Allen head screw.


13 posted on 04/07/2026 9:40:55 AM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: MeanWestTexan

whatsapp statement: IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says Israel is “approaching a strategic crossroads” in the war against Iran.

“We are approaching a strategic crossroads in the joint campaign against Iran. So far, we have achieved significant accomplishments, also in relation to the objectives we set when launching the operation. We will continue to act with determination and deepen the blows to the regime,” Zamir is quoted as saying by the IDF during an assessment.

On the IDF’s ground offensive against Hezbollah, he says “we continue to establish a forward defensive area to prevent direct fire toward our communities, while simultaneously operating against the rocket fire [deeper in Lebanon].”


14 posted on 04/07/2026 9:44:39 AM PDT by Judge Bean
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

Yes. 40,000 sorties and two down US planes. Wow, I am sure we are afraid. Even a blind hog finds a root now and then. The US and Israeli success has been miraculous.


15 posted on 04/07/2026 9:46:59 AM PDT by Judge Bean
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

Ballistic missiles are not used to shoot down airplanes.

I can’t imagine any good reason for attempting to conflate medium range surface-to-surface missiles with very short range surface-to-air missiles, as you are attempting to do.

Perhaps you could explain, in detail, what leads you to believe that very short range SAMs are in any way an alternative to medium range SSMs.


16 posted on 04/07/2026 9:53:45 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Attention Surplus Disorder

He was just speaking in the same fashion as the Iranian regime.

The best way for the US to defeat a regime that really believes in the twelver version of Shia islam , that this is the end times and Trump is Dajjal, is to convince them that we are not intimidated by them as we have been in the past and convince them we are every bit as fanatical and crazy as they are.

Our mistake has always been to assume everyone has a price, that everyone will set aside their religious beliefs for the right price. That adage is not true for every individual or group. It doesn’t even apply to nonreligious nutjobs who are on drugs and beyond reason. We are talking about fanatics that will kill their own families and their own people and believe they are in their end times.

Trump has to scare the reasonable Iranians into cleaning their house of the fanatics.

That is not an easy task- every reasonable Iranian knows full well that their fanatics are horrific and they have been conditioned by decades of the US and Europe and even Israel being “realistic” that fanatics can’t be beaten by realistic people, realistic people will always sell them out; realistic people are blackmailable, they won’t fight if the odds of winning aren’t 98% favorable.
The regime saw that they had the US by the short hairs when they captured two boats of US sailors and because of that they believe they just need to get their hands on a dozen Americans to win and make the US dance to their tune.
Trump has to scare that belief out of them before they will give up.


17 posted on 04/07/2026 9:57:46 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau
It belongs in this article here to show that there are alternatives to their ballistic missiles.....and Iran proved it.

Sure Tucker, they would have to get to the border of Israel to put one into its airspace very small charge. Yep a replacement for ballistic missiles.

18 posted on 04/07/2026 10:00:15 AM PDT by xone ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Judge Bean

💯


19 posted on 04/07/2026 10:05:55 AM PDT by TnTnTn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Attention Surplus Disorder

Perhaps the folks at DU give a rat’s a$$ what you think.


20 posted on 04/07/2026 10:06:23 AM PDT by traderrob6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-32 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson