US air superiority over Iran hobbled by lower-altitude threats, experts say

US air superiority over Iran hobbled by lower-altitude threats, experts say Submitted by Yasmine El-Sabawi on Tue, 03/24/2026 - 17:06 The US and Iran seem to be fighting this war on different wavelengths Rocket trails from Iranian missile attacks are seen in the sky above Netanya, Israel, on 23 March 2026 (Jack Guez/AFP) Off Washington's inability to secure uncontested aerial superiority over Iran stems from US underinvestment in countering lower-altitude threats that Iran has effectively deployed, experts speaking to the Middle East Institute said on Tuesday. "One of the strange things about this war is that the United States and Israel are excelling where you would expect them to excel - in the airspace, higher altitudes, fighting the more traditional fight against integrated air and missile defences that the Iranians have," Kelly Grieco, senior fellow with the "Reimagining US Grand Strategy" programme at the Stimson Center, said on a virtual panel. "Where they're struggling the most is where they've underinvested - certainly in the United States - and not taken as seriously: The lower-altitude threats to air control, where the Iranians are relying more on highly mobile systems and exploiting that to deny air superiority to the United States where it really needs it," she added.