{"id":30162,"date":"2020-03-16T15:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T15:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/16\/attacks-in-iraq-underscore-need-for-indirect-fire-protection-capability\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:27:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:27:58","slug":"attacks-in-iraq-underscore-need-for-indirect-fire-protection-capability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/03\/16\/attacks-in-iraq-underscore-need-for-indirect-fire-protection-capability\/","title":{"rendered":"Attacks in Iraq underscore need for indirect fire protection capability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

U.S. troops in Iraq were once again in the line of fire last week without sufficient capability to defend themselves. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, confirmed<\/a> on Friday that U.S. troops at Camp Taji, Iraq, did not have a necessary system to intercept rockets during the March 11 attack<\/a> by an Iran-backed militia that killed three coalition service members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fact highlights the clear vulnerability of deployed U.S. troops in Iraq to indirect fire. It also underscores the need to both deploy, without delay, existing defense capabilities and to expeditiously develop the next generation of indirect fire protection capability, or IFPC<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Gen. McKenzie, Kata\u2019ib Hezbollah \u2014 an Iran-backed Shiite militia also known as KH that operates in both Iraq and Syria \u2014 attempted to launch 33 rockets at U.S. troops at Camp Taji last week. After three misfired, 30 were launched with roughly a third to half of them landing in Camp Taji \u2014 killing an American soldier and airman, as well as a British medic. McKenzie called the attack by the Iranian proxy a \u201clarge strike\u201d with the \u201cintent to produce a lot of casualties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To deter future attacks, the next day the U.S. struck five KH locations that McKenzie called \u201cadvanced conventional weapons storage units.\u201d CENTCOM believes the facilities and any weapons they contained were \u201ceffectively destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KH was placed on the U.S. State Department\u2019s foreign terrorist organization list in 2009, making it the first Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq to be designated as an FTO. Both the organization and its leader<\/a> are subject to U.S. terrorism sanctions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Friday\u2019s press conference, McKenzie acknowledged that there was no counter-rocket, artillery, mortar system in place at Camp Taji to protect U.S. troops. McKenzie noted that the C-RAM system often focuses on protecting Patriot missile defense batteries from close-in threats, but acknowledged that C-RAM systems can also protect personnel from the kind of 107mm rockets used by KH.<\/p>\n\n\n\t