The publication of American commercial satellite imagery has revealed the exact positioning of U.S. Army MIM-104 Patriot air defence systems at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, one of several facilities at the forefront of the U.S.-led military buildup currently underway near Iran.
This closely follows the publication of American commercial satellite imagery from Inmarsat confirming the deployment of a U.S. Army Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.
It also follows statements from Pentagon sources highlighting the importance of strengthening defences around key nodes in the power-projection network before launching offensives, with one source stressing: “Before any potential action against Iran, we need to bolster our defences.” The U.S. Navy has also surged deployments of Arleigh Burke-class AEGIS destroyers, optimised for missile defence operations, to the Middle East.
In response to limited U.S. Air Force and Navy strikes on the Iranian Natanz and Fordow nuclear facilities on June 22, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a small-scale missile attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on June 23.
Although U.S. defence officials initially praised the success of U.S. Army and Qatari Air Force Patriot air defence systems in protecting the facility, it was later conceded by Pentagon sources that, despite Iran having used less advanced Fateh-313 missiles and having given the U.S. Armed Forces prior warning of the strike, Patriot systems were not fully successful. “One Iranian ballistic missile impacted Al Udeid Air Base on June 23, while U.S. and Qatari air defence systems intercepted the remainder of the missiles,” Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed in mid-July.
This followed the release of satellite footage that appeared to show the destruction of a radome housing the modernisation enterprise terminal communications suite, valued at approximately $15 million.
Where the THAAD system is well optimised to intercept intermediate-range ballistic missile attacks like those which could be launched against U.S. bases in Jordan, and strategic targets across Israel, where a separate battery is also deployed, the Patriot is better suited to intercepting short and medium-range attacks like those which could be launched against bases and targets in Qatar.
Despite 45 years of incremental modernisation, the effectiveness of the Patriot has been widely questioned by both Western and Ukrainian officials, particularly during recent combat testing in Ukraine, which has been by far the most intensive in the system’s history. In December 2025, the U.S. Army confirmed plans to develop a new variant of the Patriot, which appears poised to be the most revolutionary upgrade since the system first entered service in 1981 and is widely assessed as intended to address modern threats.
The U.S. Army has significantly depleted its Patriot surface-to-air missile stockpiles, which in July 2025 were confirmed to be at just 25 per cent of the volume deemed necessary by the Pentagon.
Several Western sources assessed that this depletion was a primary factor in the Trump administration’s decision to suspend supplies to Ukraine at the time. Each PAC-3 MSE interceptor costs approximately $3.9 million, several times the cost of low-value Iranian ballistic missiles like the Fateh-313, which are estimated to cost well under $500,000.
This has made it vital for the U.S. Armed Forces to neutralise the bulk of the Iranian missile arsenal on the ground, as intercepting any significant portion of missiles launched would be both unaffordable and beyond the current capacities of its missile defence arsenal.
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