Major General Howard Thompson (Retired) is former chief of staff for NORAD/NORTHCOM and Air Force fighter pilot.                            — Editor

By Major General Howard Thompson
(US Army, Retired)

IN a region of our globe where a dose of stability is desperately needed, none seems to be forthcoming. The Southern Arabian Gulf, the Straits of Hormuz, and the Northern Gulf of Oman continue to be the regional focus of Iran. The regime is issuing monthly if not more frequent threats to close the Straits to international shipping in response to international sanctions, thereby shutting off 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. Gen Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has acknowledged that Iran can indeed close the Straits, if only for a short time, and generate serious consequences for the economies of the Gulf and the entire world in the process. Iran’s regional tactics are clearly linked to its global strategy, that of developing and fielding a nuclear weapons capability to threaten not only its Gulf neighbors but all of Europe and the United States as well.

A pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure would, in their own words, result in an immediate closure of this globally strategic shipping route and Iran’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric does nothing to foster any diplomatic or political progress. What is needed is to “throw oil upon the water,” to smooth the choppy seas of this tense situation in order to give space and time for diplomacy to prevail. For that to happen, Iran must come to know that any effort to close the Straits will be defeated, if not immediately then in such a short time as to not seriously impact the world economy. They must be deterred from even trying. But unlike the Cold War doctrine of mutually assured destruction, there is a defensive capability that can meet this need.

One of the most effective tools the US and its Gulf partners could deploy in this deterrent effort is the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor, better known as JLENS. The system consists of two aerostats elevating tracking and fire control radars high above the battle space. Linked to other defensive systems, these radars allow JLENS to detect, track, and destroy a variety of air, land and sea threats; everything from incoming cruise missiles and swarming boats like those which Iran has threatened to unleash, to tactical ballistic missiles. Viewed through the lens of Iranian tactics that could possibly be employed in the Straits, JLENS has a capability uniquely tailored to the threat.

While serving as chief of staff for US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), I saw firsthand the strategic capabilities of this system. JLENS provides a 300 mile range of surveillance, early warning and threat targeting with 360 degrees of coverage for 30 days at a time. And by linking with land, sea and air-based defenses, JLENS is a significant force multiplier.
The utility of JLENS becomes more evident in the context of strategic geography like that of the Straits of Hormuz. Iranian cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and naval technologies and capabilities have increased dramatically in recent years, and recent field exercises within the Straits demonstrate as much.

JLENS has the proven capability to provide around-the-clock surveillance and defense of the area, providing a persistent high ground, with a deep look into the battle space to provide warning sufficient to allow a true defense-in-depth. It leverages existing missile capabilities along with US and our partner fighter aircraft force, providing a versatile, scalable, mobile system that will only grow more capable with time.
Iran must be made to know the Gulf States and their US partners have both the capability and resolve to prevent them from achieving any real strategic effect by closing the Straits of Hormuz. The deployment of defensive systems like JLENS would go far in smoothing the turbulent waters of the region, giving all parties the space and time to negotiate for desperately needed stability.