Satellite imagery of Fordow after the US bombing. Pic: Maxar Technologies
By Sandra Erwin,
Published by Space News, Military Space Newsletter, 24 June 2025
The U.S. Space Force has been quiet about what role it played in Operation Midnight Hammer, the high-stakes air campaign that targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend. But the coordinated U.S. strikes on Iranian sites at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan underscored the role of satellites in modern combat.
The operation involved more than 125 aircraft, including B-2 stealth bombers, fighters, tankers and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. Behind that airpower was a space-based backbone facilitating navigation, targeting, secure communications and early warning.
- Pre-strike satellite imagery, likely collected by government and commercial systems, gave U.S. planners the overhead intelligence needed to identify hardened facilities and develop precision strike packages. During the mission, satellite communications systems enabled near real-time coordination between aircrews, command centers and ISR platforms — a necessity during 18-hour B-2 sorties that required radio silence and stealth over hostile territory.
- Meanwhile, GPS satellites, maintained by the Space Force, were critical to guiding air-launched munitions and Tomahawk missiles fired from U.S. Navy ships, helping ensure that long-range weapons stayed on target in a potentially GPS-contested environment. U.S. officials have long worried about Iran’s electronic warfare capabilities, but there’s no public indication those efforts interfered with the weekend strike.
- After the bombs hit, space-based sensors remained on watch. Overhead systems capable of detecting infrared signatures offered missile warning coverage, including for the retaliatory strikes Iran launched Monday on U.S. military sites in Qatar. There were no reported casualties.
- Imaging satellites also delivered post-strike damage assessments, capturing cratered buildings and blackened terrain at nuclear-related sites.
The Space Force in coordination with other agencies also likely provided support to electronic warfare and cyber operations, using satellite-linked tools to disrupt or blind enemy air defenses in the minutes before the first strikes.
More broadly, Operation Midnight Hammer showcased multi-domain operations, in which space, air, cyber and land assets are tightly integrated into a single mission thread.
