Picture this.

A stealth fighter moving at supersonic speeds slips through the night sky above Tyrron.

No radar ping, no warning, no sound, just a ghost carving corridors through what was once one of the most heavily defended airspaces in the Middle East.

Iran’s generals are staring at blank screens wondering where the threat is coming from.

And then one by one, their air defense systems go dark.

This is what the F-22 Raptor has done in Operation Epic Fury.

And the scale of destruction it has enabled is nothing short of staggering.

Welcome back to World Brief Daily.

Today we’re going deep on one of the most consequential deployments of a single aircraft type in modern military history.

The F-22 Raptor has been at the center of America’s aerial dominance over Iran since the very first hours of Operation Epic Fury.

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We’re going to break down exactly what this jet has done, how it has done it, what’s coming next, and why Iran never stood a chance.

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This is the kind of deep dive coverage we bring you every time a major global event unfolds, and this one is as big as it gets.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Operation Epic Fury was launched in the early hours of February 28th, 2026.

The United States Central Command alongside Israel’s parallel campaign dubbed Operation Roaring Lion unleashed a coordinated military strike of historic proportions.

President Trump announced the operation in a post on Truth Social at 2 ID a.

m.

Eastern time accompanied by an 8-minute video addressed directly to the Iranian people.

As the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted shortly after, the operation differed fundamentally from Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025, which had been a more limited strike campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Epic Fury was something else entirely.

It was comprehensive.

It was overwhelming, and it was clearly designed not just to damage Iran’s military, but to systematically dismantle it.

According to the White House, the four core objectives of Operation Epic Fury were clear from day one.

First, destroy Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and completely dismantle its missile production industry.

Second, annihilate the Iranian Navy.

Third, sever Iran’s support for terrorist proxies across the region.

And fourth, guarantee that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Kaine stated on March 4th, the operation was designed to dismantle Iran’s ability to project power outside its borders both today and in the future.

Those were not empty words.

By March 23rd, according to US Central Command and reporting by Air and Space Forces magazine, American forces had conducted over 10,000 combat flights and struck more than 10,000 Iranian targets.

That number has continued to climb.

But here’s the question that most people haven’t asked.

How did the US military achieve that kind of dominance so quickly? How did America’s air power cut through Iran’s defenses so efficiently that within weeks even legacy platforms like the B-52 bomber were flying overland missions inside Iranian territory.

The answer in large part is one aircraft, the F-22 Raptor.

Before we go any further, make sure you’re subscribed to World Brief Daily and that your notifications are turned on.

We cover every major development in Operation Epic Fury as it happens and the situation is evolving by the hour.

Hit subscribe now so you don’t miss a single update.

Now, let’s talk about the F-22 itself.

Because to understand what it’s doing over Iran, you first need to understand what it is.

The F-22 Raptor is by virtually every technical measure the most capable air superiority fighter ever built.

The US Air Force has described it as a combination of stealth super cruise capability, integrated avionics and maneuverability that delivers first look, first shot, first kill capability.

Let’s break those down one by one because they matter enormously in the context of what’s happening in Iran right now.

stealth.

The F-22 is constructed with radar absorbent materials and designed with a shape that scatters radar waves rather than reflecting them back to the source.

Its radar cross-section is reported to be roughly the size of a marble.

This isn’t just about being hard to see.

It’s about being functionally invisible to the kind of radar systems that Iran had deployed before Operation Epic Fury began.

Iran’s air defense network included Russian origin S300 systems considered among the most capable medium to long range surfaceto-air missile systems in the world.

For most aircraft, the S300 is a serious threat.

For an F-22, it is essentially a non-factor super cruise.

This is the ability to maintain supersonic flight, specifically above Mach 1.

5, without using afterburners.

Afterburners are the jet equivalent of flooring the gas pedal in a car.

They generate enormous thrust, but they also generate enormous heat and exhaust signatures that can be detected by infrared sensors.

Super cruise means the F-22 can fly fast and go far without lighting itself up on thermal imaging systems.

Over Iran, that translates to a fighter that can cover massive distances, reach targets quickly, and exit before defenses can even begin to respond.

sensors and data fusion.

This is where the F-22 becomes something far more than a gun with wings.

The jet is equipped with the ANAPG77 active electronically scanned array radar capable of tracking dozens of targets simultaneously while operating in low probability of intercept mode.

Meaning it emits signals too briefly and in too complex a pattern to be easily detected by enemy electronic warfare systems.

It carries an array of electronic support measures that allow it to passively detect emissions from enemy radars and communications.

And critically, it can share all of that data in real time with other platforms through data links.

We’ll come back to why that matters enormously in just a moment.

Firepower.

The F-22 carries an internal weapons bay, which is key to its stealth.

Opening external weapons pylons or hanging missiles on external racks would compromise its radar cross-section.

Internally, it can carry a mix of AIM 120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles for long range engagements, a IM9 Sidewinder infrared missiles for close-range combat, GBU39B small diameter bombs for precision ground strikes, and GBU32 joint direct attack munitions for heavier ground targets.

It also carries a 20mimeter M61 A2 cannon with 480 rounds for close-in engagements.

The combination of stealth sensors and that weapons payload makes the F-22 capable of operating in environments that would be suicidal for any other fighter in the world.

With a range of over 1,50 miles and with aerial refueling support from the approximately 75 tanker aircraft that Air and Space Forces magazine estimates were operating in the US Central Command area of operations, F-22s have been able to fly extended missions over Iran’s vast territory.

According to flight tracking data cited by that same outlet, close to 300 Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps fighters were involved in Operation Epic Fury alongside at least 20 bombers.

That is an air power concentration the likes of which the world has rarely seen.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting.

F-22s from Joint Base Langley Eustace in Virginia were deployed to Avda Air Base in southern Israel in the weeks before Operation Epic Fury began.

According to Air and Space Forces magazine, this movement was tracked through open- source flight data and social media posts from aircraft spotters in the region, the US military was positioning its most capable air superiority fighters within range of Iran well in advance of the opening strikes.

Iran’s intelligence services either failed to grasp the significance of this buildup or they were unable to do anything about it.

Probably both.

When Operation Epic Fury was launched, US Central Command sent in a full spectrum of strike assets.

B2 Spirit stealth bombers carrying 2,000 lb guided penetrating bombs, targeted hardened missile complexes, and nuclear infrastructure.

B1B Lancers flew direct from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota on 30 plus hour non-stop missions, each capable of delivering up to 75,000 pounds of ordinance, making them the heaviest conventional bomber payloads in the coalition.

B-52s joined the fight targeting ballistic missile sites and command control and communications infrastructure.

F-35s, F-15E, and F-16s conducted suppression of enemy air defenses, precision strikes, and targeting operations.

And the F-22, according to Defense Updates initial assessment of the operation, the Raptor was assigned to air superiority and executed missions from OVDA with its specific targets not yet publicly confirmed, a telling detail in itself.

The results were devastating to Iran.

The Israel Defense Forces reported by March 30th that approximately 80% of Iran’s air defenses had been destroyed.

Think about what that number means.

Iran had invested decades and billions of dollars into building an integrated air defense network.

It included domestically produced systems, Russian S300s, and layers of short-range and medium-range interceptors.

Within the first month of Operation Epic Fury, that network was in ruins.

and the best evidence of how thoroughly it was destroyed.

The B-52 bomber flying overland missions inside Iran.

This is not a minor point.

The B-52H Stratafortress is a massive aircraft.

It has been flying since the 1950s.

It is enormous, slow relative to modern fighters and detectable on radar from enormous distances.

A functioning modern air defense network would have shredded B-52s on approach.

The fact that they are flying inside Iran’s mainland tells you everything you need to know about the state of Iran’s air defense system.

As we’ve said on World Brief Daily before, numbers don’t lie.

80% of Iran’s air defenses destroyed may actually be an underestimate.

The F-22’s role in creating that environment was central.

Here is how the operation appears to have unfolded based on the information available.

In the opening phase of the campaign, F-22s flew into Iranian airspace ahead of other strike packages.

Using their stealth to penetrate undetected, they used their onboard radar and sensor suite to locate and identify Iran’s air defense nodes, including radar sites, missile batteries, command posts, and communications infrastructure.

They then either struck those targets directly using their internal munitions, or transmitted targeting data to other platforms, including F-35s and strike aircraft, which then executed the kills with standoff munitions.

The F-22’s ability to fly deep into defended territory, collect targeting data, and relay it instantly to other platforms in the coalition turned it into a force multiplier of extraordinary value.

A single F-22 orbiting at altitude, invisible to every radar below it, could effectively become the eyes in the brain for an entire strike package.

And that’s not just operational theory.

We can see the evidence in the results.

According to the CSIS analysis of the operation’s early phase, the initial strikes hit more than a thousand targets in the first 24 hours alone.

That kind of precision at that kind of scale requires the sort of real-time battle space awareness that only a platform like the F-22 can provide in a heavily contested environment.

But there’s more to this story, and it involves something that happened more than a decade ago.

In 2013, a pair of Iranian F4 Phantom jets attempted to intercept a US MQ1 Predator drone flying in international airspace.

The attempt failed, which prompted the US to begin escorting its drones with F-22 Raptors.

What followed was one of the most humiliating episodes in Iran’s recent aerial history.

Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Sutterfield, piloting an F-22, detected the approach of the Iranian F4s on his sensors long before their pilots had any idea he was there.

He flew his F-22 directly underneath the incoming jets, loitered there for a moment, then pulled alongside them and delivered a simple message.

You really ought to go home.

The Iranian pilots complied.

They couldn’t see him.

They couldn’t track him.

They had no option but to leave.

That incident was a preview, a trailer for the movie that is now playing out over Iran’s skies.

The IRGC had 13 years to study that encounter to invest in radar systems that might have a chance of detecting the F-22 to develop counter measures.

They didn’t, and now they’re paying for it.

By March 21st, as reported by Euro News, at least 70 senior Iranian regime officials had been killed since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury.

That number includes some of the most significant figures in Iran’s military leadership.

Muhammad Pakpur, the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, was killed on the first day of the operation.

The senior commander of the IRGC aerospace force, Esma Dean, was eliminated.

Ali Hashemi, the core’s former deputy coordinator, was killed.

Multiple officers from the IRGC’s Lebanon and Palestine branches were eliminated.

Ali Muhammad Naeni, the IRGC’s spokesman, was killed.

We should also note that as reported across multiple outlets covering the operation, the opening strikes of epic fury and Israel’s parallel operation roaring lion targeted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Kame based on specific intelligence about his location and he was killed in the opening hours of the campaign.

The targeting of that level of military and political leadership with that degree of precision does not happen without comprehensive realtime intelligence.

F-22s orbiting invisibly over Iran and feeding sensor data to other platforms are almost certainly part of the intelligence chain that enabled those strikes.

Whether the Raptor was the platform that delivered the fatal blow in any specific case is less important than understanding the broader picture.

The F-22 created the conditions under which other platforms could operate.

It was the shield and the spear at the same time.

Here’s where it becomes particularly remarkable for Iran’s remaining leadership and IRGC members.

They know the F-22 is up there.

They cannot find it.

They cannot track it and they cannot stop it.

Iran’s generals are living with the knowledge that at any moment a targeting solution could be developed on their location and they would never hear it coming.

That is the kind of psychological dominance that changes how wars are fought.

Now, as we mentioned at the start of this video, the situation is close to escalating into a new phase, and the F-22 is going to play a central role in what comes next.

As of late March 2026, reporting from multiple outlets, including Alazer, citing two unnamed US officials, indicated that the Department of Defense is preparing for ground operations targeting Car Island.

For those unfamiliar with the geography, Carg Island is a small island off the coast of Iran in the northern Persian Gulf.

It is the processing point for approximately 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports.

Whoever controls Kar Island controls the financial lifeline of the Iranian regime.

The strategic logic is straightforward.

Close down Car Island and you strangle Iran’s primary source of revenue.

Combine that with the closure of the straight of Hormuz through which approximately 20% of the world’s oil and liqufied natural gas flows and you create economic pressure so severe that the regime has a difficult choice.

Negotiate or collapse.

American ground forces are already assembling for this potential operation.

According to SOF news and other outlets tracking the buildup, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked on the USS Tripoli along with the USS New Orleans and USS San Diego is deploying to the region.

The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit is either on route or positioning.

Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division are heading to the region, giving the US approximately 6,000 additional elite soldiers in the Persian Gulf area.

These forces join roughly 50,000 American troops already stationed at bases throughout the Middle East.

This is a ground force of real consequence.

But ground troops on Carg Island would be sitting in an extraordinarily dangerous position without air superiority.

Iran, even with 80% of its air defenses gone, still retains missile launch capabilities, fast boats, drones, and IRGC ground forces.

Any US soldier or marine on Car Island would be exposed to everything Iran can still bring to bear.

That’s where America’s air power comes in.

And specifically, that’s where the F-22 comes in.

The model from the aerial campaign over mainland Iran translates directly to the Carg Island scenario.

F-22s would conduct sweeping ISR missions over the straight of Hormuz coast, identifying missile launch sites, drone launch facilities, ammunition stockpiles, fast boat bases, and IRGC troop concentrations.

That data gets transmitted to Apache helicopters, A10 Warthog attack aircraft, and strike packages that can then eliminate those threats before they can be used against US ground forces on the island.

The F-22’s GBU39B small diameter bombs are precisely the right tool for taking out hardened coastal targets without risking the kind of catastrophic collateral damage that would come from striking oil infrastructure at close range with larger munitions.

There is also the question of the Strait of Hormuz coast itself.

As of mid-March, reports had emerged that the US had already deployed 5,000 pound bunker busting munitions against hardened missile sites along the Iranian coast.

Those strikes degraded, but did not eliminate Iran’s coastal strike capability.

F-22s using their stealth and precision could systematically work through the remaining hardened targets in ways that non-stalth platforms simply cannot.

An IRGC soldier with a manportable air defense system, a man pad, has essentially no chance against an F-22.

The jet would be on target, weapons away, and departing before the soldier could even acquire a firing solution.

And the psychological dimension matters here, too.

Iran’s IRGC commanders planning any kind of response to a US seizure of Car Island would be doing so knowing that every position they occupy, every vehicle they move, every missile battery they attempt to activate could be identified and targeted by invisible F-22s overhead.

That constant looming threat fundamentally changes how Iran’s military can operate.

It creates hesitation.

It slows decision-making.

And in a fast-moving military situation, hesitation is lethal.

There is one more dimension to the F-22’s potential role that we need to address, and it is deeply controversial.

President Trump has publicly threatened to strike Iran’s water dissalination plants.

According to the Independent, Iran has been experiencing acid rain and heavy smoke since the start of Operation Epic Fury.

The country is also in its fifth consecutive year of extreme drought, with some reservoirs currently sitting at approximately 10% of their maximum capacity.

Desalination plants are critical infrastructure for making water safe for civilian consumption.

Striking them would create a humanitarian crisis affecting ordinary Iranians far more than the regime’s leadership.

This creates a profound tension with Trump’s stated goal of encouraging Iran’s population to overthrow their government and his direct message to Iranians at the start of the operation that their hour of freedom was at hand.

Whether those strikes happen or not, if they do, Iran’s remaining air defenses, however limited, would almost certainly be concentrated around these vital civilian infrastructure sites.

Against most aircraft, that would create risk.

Against F-22s, it creates only a marginal operational challenge.

The Raptor’s ability to penetrate layered defenses and strike with precision is exactly what would be needed if the decision were made to go down that road.

We at World Brief Daily are not here to advocate for or against that course of action.

We are here to give you the complete picture of what is militarily possible and what the F-22 brings to every scenario being considered.

Let’s zoom out now and look at the broader context of what this operation has already achieved because the numbers tell a story that is genuinely historic.

According to Air and Space Forces magazine, over 10,000 Iranian targets had been struck as of March 23rd.

According to Groipedia’s operational overview, Iran’s naval forces are assessed as between 85 and 95% neutralized.

Over 120 Iranian vessels, including submarines and mine layers, have been damaged or sunk.

Key port infrastructure has been targeted.

The Iranian Navy, which once patrolled the Persian Gulf with enough confidence to harass American vessels and threaten global shipping lanes, is essentially gone as an organized fighting force.

Iran’s nuclear program, which had already been severely degraded by Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025, has been targeted further.

As CSIS assessed, the earlier campaign destroyed enrichment facilities at Fordo and Natans and wrecked the metallurgy facilities at Isvahan.

Operation Epic Fury has layered additional strikes on top of that, targeting administrative hubs, dualuse research facilities, and what are reported to be the Iran Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Thran.

and the explosive research testing facility at Parchin.

According to Grokipedia’s assessment, the nuclear program has been set back somewhere between 60 and 80% in terms of pathway to a weapon, though full permanent denial remains a challenge because of dispersed and underground elements.

Iran’s ballistic missile enterprise, the crown jewel of its regional deterrence strategy, has been systematically targeted.

launch platforms, production facilities, storage sites, and the command infrastructure that would have coordinated a missile campaign have all been hit.

In the first four days of the operation alone, according to Defense Update, Iran launched over 500 ballistic missiles and 2,000 attack drones in retaliation.

But that enormous volley represents Iran burning through its existing stockpile in desperation.

Its ability to replenish that arsenal has been severely compromised.

The IRGC itself, the organization responsible for projecting Iranian power across the region, has lost not just its commander-in-chief and dozens of senior officers, it has lost the command and control infrastructure that allowed it to coordinate operations in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza.

As of March 29th, according to Jinsa’s operational update, Iran was continuing to launch missiles against Gulf states, but at significantly reduced rates.

Iranian missile fire against Gulf targets had dropped 22% in a single day with 42 missiles fired on March 29th, down from 54 the previous day.

The momentum is going in one direction, but the human cost cannot be overlooked.

As of March 31st, 2026, according to Pentagon figures reported by Informed Clearly, 13 US service members have been killed in operations against Iran and 348 have been wounded.

Among the fallen are Major Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, Chief Warrant Officer 3, Robert Marzan, 54, Captain Cody Cork, 35, Sergeant Firstclass Nicole Aimer, 39, Sergeant Firstclass Noah Tichins, 42, and Specialist Declan Cody, just 20 years old.

All killed in a single Iranian drone attack at Port Schweibba in Kuwait on March 1st.

Sergeant Benjamin Pennington, 26, was killed in an attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on March 8th.

These are names worth saying out loud.

This is not a video game.

Every number in this conflict represents a human life.

We should never lose sight of that.

There has also been a significant setback in the air campaign.

On April 3rd, 2026, a US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over southwestern Iran.

Initial Iranian claims that they had downed an F-35 were determined to be incorrect based on wreckage analysis.

One crew member was rescued by American forces and is receiving medical attention.

Search operations continue for the second crew member.

This is the first confirmed loss of a manned American aircraft to enemy fire in Operation Epic Fury.

While it represents a meaningful development in terms of what remains of Iran’s defensive capability, it also highlights the reality of the threat environment that US air crew are operating in every day.

Notably, it was not an F-22 that was shot down.

The F-15E is a formidable aircraft, but it is not stealthy.

It was operating in an environment where Iran still retains some residual air defense capability, and it paid the price.

This is precisely why the F-22’s stealth, its fundamental architecture of invisibility, remains so strategically valuable.

You cannot shoot down what you cannot see.

Going forward, Iran’s Gulf neighbors are beginning to respond in their own way to the attacks they’ve sustained.

Bahrain intercepted eight ballistic missiles and seven drones in a single day.

According to Jensa’s March 30th update, the UAE has faced escalating Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have all been targeted.

These countries are not passive bystanders.

They are increasingly active participants in the effort to contain and respond to Iran’s aggression.

The balance of power in the Gulf is shifting in real time, and it is shifting against Thran.

Iran knew the F-22 was coming.

The US Air Force’s specifications were public.

The 2013 incident with Lieutenant Colonel Sutterfield and the Iranian F4s was public.

The deployment of F-22s to OVDA was tracked by open-source flight trackers.

Tran had every warning sign it needed.

But knowing something is coming and being able to stop it are two entirely different things.

Iran could not stop the F-22.

It could not even find it.

That technological edge, that profound asymmetry between America’s most advanced platforms and the systems Iran built to defend against them is the defining military reality of Operation Epic Fury.

And the F-22 Raptor is its sharpest expression.

We’ll continue tracking this story as the operation evolves, as the Carg Island situation develops, and as the broader strategic picture becomes clearer.

The next chapter of Operation Epic Fury is being written right now.

And whatever direction it goes, America’s F-22s will be in the sky above it, invisible, lethal, and utterly dominant.

Thanks for watching World Brief Daily.

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