Missiles Aren’t Strategy: Lessons From Iran for a Pacific Air War (warontherocks.com)

• Western debates focus on missile inventories and runway vulnerabilities.
• China's A2/AD threatens US air operations in the Pacific.
• Lessons from Iran 2026 and Ukraine highlight limitations of materiel superiority.

"Western airpower debates focus on missile counts and runways, but the 2026 Iran War shows real combat is interactive—numbers alone don't guarantee victory. China's A2/AD capabilities threaten early conflict phases, yet Russia's Ukraine experience cautions against overreliance on inventory calculations."