Operation Epic Fury is the U.S.-led, Israel-coordinated military campaign against Iran initiated by President Trump on Feb. 28, 2026. Public reporting describes strikes against Iranian leadership, naval and air power, manufacturing, and nuclear infrastructure. Whiteman AFB B-2s conducted the bomber strikes.
Relevance to UAP discourse
In the opening hours of the operation, a usnorthcom Flyaway Kit detected and defeated a small drone over an undisclosed “strategic” U.S. military installation — disclosed publicly by Gen. Gregory Guillot in Senate posture testimony (src-northcom-drone-incursion-2026-03). The launch of Epic Fury was followed by a sustained pattern of drone-incursions at strategic bomber bases, most notably the March 9-15, 2026 multi-wave swarm at barksdale-afb (src-drone-incursions-epic-fury-2026-03) and declined-to-confirm activity at Whiteman — raising concerns about Iranian retaliatory drone operations. This exemplifies the broader drone-incursion pattern driving the FY2026 NDAA UAP intercept briefing mandates.
Counter-drone shortfall
By April 2026, the campaign had exposed a significant U.S. counter-uas gap. Iran launched thousands of Shaheds during the war; six U.S. troops were killed in Kuwait by an Iranian drone on March 1, 2026 (src-counter-drone-middle-east-jiatf-2026-04). jiatf-401 committed ~$350M of C-UAS capability to centcom in just the first ~30 days. SOF News reports the U.S. has “suffered casualties and damage to high-value aircraft” from Iranian/proxy drones (src-epic-fury-update-2026-04). The Pentagon imported the Ukrainian Sky Map C2 platform to prince-sultan-air-base — the first known U.S. operational use of Ukrainian counter-drone technology.
tom-karako (CSIS) on the surge: “[Increased investment] is dramatically overdue. But it’s not as if the drone threat snuck up on us.”
Phase 2 — Economic phase (April 2026)
Per src-epic-fury-update-2026-04:
- A planned April 22 Islamabad ceasefire meeting collapsed when Iran declined to attend; donald-trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely while keeping the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports intact.
- 33 ships have been redirected by the blockade; three sanctioned tankers seized (M/V Touska seized April 19 by Marines from USS Tripoli).
- In retaliation, irgc-navy small craft seized two tankers in the strait-of-hormuz on April 22 (Liberian-flagged Epaminondas, Panama-flagged MSC Francesca).
- Iran has placed naval mines in the Strait; U.S. Avenger-class minehunters transiting from Japan via Sri Lanka.
- mojtaba-khamenei is the new Iranian supreme leader, in hiding and reportedly gravely injured; IRGC commanders effectively running operational and diplomatic decisions; abbas-araghchi named as prospective FM-level negotiator.
- csis munitions-expenditure estimates: ~850/3,100 Tomahawks, 1,000/4,400 JASSMs, 290/360 THAAD, up to 1,430/2,330 Patriots.
- UAE absorbed 2,819 Iranian missile/drone attacks Feb 28–Apr 14 (most of any nation; Israel: 1,357).
- Retired BG donald-bolduc critique: tactical wins, strategic gaps, no exit strategy.
FY27 Posture Reference (April 2026)
In Hegseth’s April 29, 2026 FY27 department-of-war posture testimony to the house-armed-services-committee, Operation Epic Fury is acknowledged as ongoing — cited alongside Operations Rough Rider, Midnight Hammer, and Absolute Resolve as proof of “second-to-none operational flexibility” (src-hegseth-fy27-posture-testimony-2026-04).