https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2026/03/20/warthog-versus-the-mosquito-a-10s-hunting-iranian-suicide-boats/
The A-10 Thunderbolt is hunting down Iran’s enormous “mosquito fleet” of manned and drone suicide boats in the Gulf, again apparently proving the utility of a venerable airframe that the U.S. Air Force has been trying to retire for years.
Iran’s fleet of several hundred — perhaps more than a thousand — speedboat-size paramilitary attack boats are being hunted by the United States Air Force in the Gulf, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said at a briefing on Thursday. Presenting an update on the status of Operation Epic Fury, General Caine revealed: “the A-10 Warthog is now in the fight across the southern flank, and is hunting and killing fast-attack watercraft in the Straits of Hormuz”.
The A-10 may be especially well suited to the role, given it benefits from a long loiter time and availability of mission-appropriate, highly destructive, and cost-effective munitions for hunting down unarmoured fibreglass boats. Among them is the A-10’s integral 30mm Gatling gun, the GAU-8 Avenger.
Caine said: “we continue to hunt and kill mine storage facilities and naval ammunition depots. We continue to hunt and kill afloat assets including more than 120 vessels and 44 minelayers and the pressure will continue”.
A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft flies alongside a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility during Operation Epic Fury, March 9, 2026. (U.S. Air Force photo)
The so-called “mosquito fleet” is part of a mosaic of capabilities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with which it has long held the region to ransom by threatening to shut the Straits of Hormuz. The waterway is one of a handful of particularly vulnerable global maritime chokepoints through which a meaningful proportion of oil the world economy needs daily passes in enormous crude carrier tankers.
As reported earlier this week of these Iranian capabilities which are now being hunted down and destroyed by U.S. forces, among them are the mosquito fleet of suicide boats either carrying massive explosive charges, or Chinese-made anti ship missiles in strapped-on cannisters, sea mines, and ground-based anti-ship missiles (AShMs). One of the earliest targets of U.S. strikes in the course of Operation Epic Fury was Iran’s conventional navy, which has now been largely destroyed.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said of this: “we’ve damaged or sunk over 120 of their navy ships with battle damage assessments pending for many more… their surface fleet is no longer a factor, their submarines — they once had 11 — are gone, their military ports are gone”.
While Caine referred to the mosquito fleet being hit “afloat”, FLIR footage released by U.S. Central Command (Centcom) in recent days has shown mosquito boats being hit ashore, too.
Part of Iran’s strategy for preserving its force includes making many of these sea-denial assets highly mobile and easy to hide, including the creation of extensive tunnel networks to hide truck-mounted AShM launchers and even trailered suicide boats. One such trailered fast attack boat was shown being struck while camouflaged under tree cover, while others in the published footage were taken out at their anchorages.
Those tunnels are no guarantee of survival either, with the USAF dropping latest-generation bunker busters on the coastal hideaways in recent days to take out hidden launchers.
The appearance of the A-10 as an anti-small attack boat platform in the skies over the Persian Gulf is the latest update in a now years-long saga over the future of the aircraft, which has survived multiple attempts by the Air Force to retire it, with the latest bid having intended to eliminate the plane from inventory this year.
Former A-10 pilot Dale Stark reflected on the discourse around these arguments, stating of the announcements A-10s had pivoted to the anti-ship role they’d long trained for, stating: “Shocked, I tell you. I was reliably informed by the Lockheed funded military bloggers that the A-10 was outdated and irrelevant in modern warfare.”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2026/03/20/warthog-versus-the-mosquito-a-10s-hunting-iranian-suicide-boats/
American forces have sent low-flying A-10 Warthogs to shoot at Iranian ships and drones
American forces have sent low-flying A-10 Warthogs and Apache attack helicopters to shoot at Iranian ships and drones.
Air Force general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan 'Raizin' Caine said the mission is taking the attack to ships on the southern Iranian coast.
'The A-10 Warthog is now engaged across the southern flank, targeting fast-attack watercraft in the Strait of Hormuz,' he said.
He added that the Apaches have 'joined the fight on the southern flank'.
Strikes are being conducted against Iranian military targets by US forces
Donald Trump has called for US forces to open a new front in Iran as jets pound Iranian ships in an all-out battle to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
American forces have sent low-flying A-10 Warthogs and Apache attack helicopters to shoot at Iranian ships and drones.
The Pentagon is trying to nullify danger from Iranian weapons and reopen the strait, which has only seen about 90 ships cross since the war began.
About 90 ships including oil tankers have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the outset of the war with Iran and it is still exporting millions of barrels of oil at a time when the waterway has been effectively closed to others.
'The Iranian oil tankers have been getting out, and we've let that happen in order to supply the rest of the world with Iranian oil,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Air Force general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan 'Raizin' Caine said the mission is taking the attack to enemy ships to the southern Iranian coast.
'The A-10 Warthog is now engaged across the southern flank, targeting fast-attack watercraft in the Strait of Hormuz,' he said.
CENTCOM says the US is attacking targets that 'threaten international shipping in and near the Strait of Hormuz'.
The US has been striking Iranian bases and IRGC cruise missile batteries, taking out over 120 of the country's naval ships, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.
Iran has responded by using small, unmanned boats with explosives, projectiles and airborne drones to attack enemy ships.
Caine said that Apache helicopters have 'joined the fight on the southern flank'.
The secret Iranian armada hell-bent on sinking a US aircraft carrier in Strait of Hormuz: Speedboats armed with torpedoes, explosive drones and a fleet of mini-subs:
Somewhere in the temperate waters of the Strait of Hormuz, small but deadly Iranian submarines lurk patiently – with Donald Trump’s warships in their crosshairs.
Slipping through sonar blind spots, the Ghadir-class mini subs silently shadow their prey, despatch their underwater anti-ship cruise missiles or homing torpedoes, then simply vanish.
Not for nothing are they known as the ‘Ghosts in the Gulf’. One is said to have photographed an aircraft carrier up close during a surveillance mission before slinking away undetected.
Tehran has previously claimed that ‘on several occasions’ the submarines ‘caught US Navy vessels off guard by surfacing unexpectedly near them’.
Adapted from a North Korean model, Ghadir inspires pride in Iranians – though submarines are far from the only deadly hardware in their naval arsenal.
From torpedo-firing speedboats and kamikaze drones to mines of every description and unmanned explosive-laden craft disguised as wooden fishing boats... enough fiendish weaponry for a 007 film awaits the US Navy in the world’s busiest oil shipping channel.
Certainly, enough to give the 2,000 marines on board USS Tripoli pause for thought. Next week, the 50,000-ton amphibious assault ship, en route from Japan, will enter the war zone and prepare for a confrontation that may yet decide the conflict’s outcome.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards man their speedboats in the Persian Gulf off the port of Bandar Abbas
Ghadir-class mini subs can silently shadow their prey, despatch their underwater anti-ship cruise missiles or homing torpedoes, then simply vanish
A boat firing a missile during a military exercise by members of the IRGC and navy in the Gulf
While Iran’s regular navy suffered heavy losses in the first wave of US attacks, the country’s second navy run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is responsible for the strait, is thought to be largely intact.
The rugged mountainous coastline to the east of the strait gives the Iranians a key advantage. They can dig into the hills and launch over-the-horizon strikes that are difficult to spot. And drones can be despatched undetected from anywhere.
Some of Iran’s deadly vessels are thought to be hiding in an underground cove on a tiny island in the strait.
The IRGC’s navy specialises in asymmetric warfare: avoiding a more dominant opponent’s strengths and instead focusing on weaknesses using unconventional strategies and tactics.
A 2020 report by Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, outlined how this might play out in the strait.
It said: ‘Iran could theoretically launch a coordinated attack involving explosives-laden remote-controlled boats and remotely operated underwater vehicles, swarming speedboats, semi-submersible torpedo boats, kamikaze [drones], midget attack submarines, and shore-based antiship missile and artillery fire.’
Elsewhere the report says Iran’s network of islands, inlets and coves along the strait provide ‘excellent hiding places’ and allow for ‘staging precision mining operations, sneak missile and swarming attacks’.
Iran has also bored tunnels into rocky islands ‘from where boats can launch directly into shipping lanes’.
It adds: ‘Speedboats can rush out of covered locks and concrete pens, or can be launched from flatbed trucks under cover of darkness during high tide without any special accommodations.
'These capabilities can increase surprise and reduce transit time to the points of contact.’
Other firepower at the IRGC’s disposal includes armed replicas of the British-built Bladerunner 51, hailed as among the fastest speedboats in the world.
A senior IRGC commander said when it was launched: ‘The Bladerunner is a British ship that holds the world speed record [80mph].
'We got a copy [on which] we made some changes so it can launch missiles and torpedoes.’
The Washington Institute report says such ‘fast-attack craft’ are essential in controlling the strait. ‘The IRGC navy uses these boats for maritime patrol and ultimately swarming and sneaking missile attacks.’
It adds: ‘A key feature of the IRGC’s rocket-firing swarm boats is their survivability, achieved by designing the boats to have a lower profile paired with high speed and manoeuvrability.
‘For a similar reason, Iran has been working on unmanned surface vessels since the late 1980s, specifically through the development and fielding of remote-controlled suicide drone boats packed with explosives.
‘Iran has positioned no fewer than 1,500 of them, each armed with 500kg of explosives, along key Persian Gulf coastal areas.
'Originally designed to destroy warships, these drone boats have progressively been made more sophisticated with the provision of various sensors and data links.’
The regime is estimated to have 17 submarines garrisoned at Bandar Abbas, which sits on the northern bend. US forces appear to have disabled only one of them since the attacks began last week.
That submarine – a 500-ton Fateh-class vessel with at least four 533mm torpedo tubes – was Iran’s ‘most operational’ sub-surface boat, according to US military officials.
Ryan Ramsey, a former captain of the Royal Navy submarine HMS Turbulent, said: ‘Having operated submarines in the Gulf region, the Iranian submarine force should be taken seriously.’
As well as Ghadir-class, he said Iran also operated Russian-made Kilo-class submarines, which are larger, longer-range boats and have greater firepower.
‘In the confined waters of the region, even a small number of submarines can create real uncertainty for surface commanders,’ Mr Ramsey added.
‘That said, against capable anti-submarine forces the balance shifts. US submarines and maritime patrol assets are extremely proficient at finding and tracking these boats.’
According to the report, the IRGC considers sea mines essential to what it calls its ‘smart control’ of the Strait of Hormuz.
To that end, it is said to have acquired some of the world’s deadliest, including ‘influence’ mines which rest on the seabed. Triggered not by physical contact, they instead use sensors to detect when a vessel is nearby.
Magnetic limpet mines are also favoured. The report says they are ‘deployed by speedboats or divers, as demonstrated… in 2019 when just south of the Strait of Hormuz, two transiting tankers were attacked by speeding boats attaching limpet mines to their target hulls’.
Even if the US feels it could counter all Iranian threats, the operation would be enormously complex, expensive and would last as long as Iran chooses to keep threatening ships – something beyond Donald Trump’s control.
Former Air Marshal Martin Sampson says the US appeared unprepared for the large combined land, sea and air operation needed to secure the strait.
He said the waterway would become ‘a target-rich environment’ for Iranian forces, who could throw everything they’ve got at warships carrying hundreds of sailors.
The Marine Expeditionary Unit on board the USS Tripoli could take part in an invasion of Iran’s Kharg Island, located 15 miles off its mainland. It is the country’s main oil export terminal and critical to its fragile economy.
The Tripoli could be joined by another amphibious assault ship the USS Boxer, which left San Diego earlier last week, bringing the number of marines units in the region to three.
However, such an operation – which would leave US troops exposed to Iranian missiles and drones – would only be launched once Iran’s coastal military capabilities have been further degraded.
‘We need about a month to weaken the Iranians more with strikes, then take the island ’ one source said.
Sascha Bruchmann, a military analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said US marines could deploy from the Tripoli using Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which can transport squads of 20 troops to positions up to 400 miles away. They could land using smaller amphibious assault boats.
Another target is Qeshm Island in the strait. ‘It’s a bit like an unsinkable aircraft carrier,’ Mr Bruchmann told The Times.
‘There’s natural salt caverns and mines, which are used as underground storage facilities for the [drones] that now hold shipping hostage. So marines as fighters and as amphibious raiders, would be the ideal option to… try to neutralise these facilities.’
Other options include seizing the islands of Hormuz or Larak, where US forces could install counter-drone radar systems.
