Russian satellite data helped Iran strike U.S. air base in Saudi Arabia — CNN
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CNN
Fourteen Russian reconnaissance satellites
passed over a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia in the days before Iran
attacked it on March 27, according to an investigation CNN published
on Sept. 16.
The intelligence gathered by the satellites was transmitted to Iran and may have helped it carry out a precision strike, according to the report. U.S. officials and intelligence sources told CNN that the Russian satellites were an important part of Iran’s preparations for attacks on U.S. facilities.
CNN journalists analyzed orbital data to determine when Russian satellites passed over U.S. military sites, consulting experts in space technology as part of the investigation.
Among the satellites was Kosmos-2573, CNN reported. Two days before the attack, it and other Russian satellites were in orbits that gave them favorable views of the U.S. base.
The satellites could gather various types of intelligence. Some can intercept radio and radar signals, helping detect air defense systems. Infrared satellites can record heat signatures, including those emitted by missile launchers. Satellites equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can capture images at night and through cloud cover, as well as detect changes on the ground.
The data may have helped identify the locations of U.S. aircraft. During the March 27 attack, Iran used at least one missile and several drones. The strike wounded 12 U.S. service members, and several aircraft were destroyed or damaged. One of them was an E-3 AWACS aircraft, which costs hundreds of millions of dollars and is extremely difficult to replace.
CNN sources said the scale of the damage and the strike’s accuracy would have been nearly impossible without Russian geospatial intelligence. U.S. officials, however, are still debating how important Russia’s assistance was to the attack’s preparation.
The network’s sources also suggested that Russian satellites
may have transmitted intelligence to Iran several times during the war to help
guide attacks, including against a CIA facility in Saudi Arabia’s capital,
Riyadh.
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