Countering the ballistic threat should include not just intercepting missiles that have already been launched, but also making it impossible for the enemy to launch them at all. The latter involves striking launchers, missile storage sites, as well as production sites.
However, this task is more than difficult, as demonstrated by a number of wars, starting with World War II, when the last German V-2 was launched on a target, on March 27, 1945, over Antwerp, 42 days before the German surrender. Also illustrative in this regard is Operation Desert Storm, when Saddam Hussein's forces last launched an R-11 missile (NATO reporting name SS-1C Scud-B) two days before the cessation of hostilities.
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Another example was Operation Epic Fury, during which the U.S. military also had to fulfill the key task of minimizing the number of ballistic missiles launched as wel as generally undermining Iran's ability to carry out long-range strikes.
As a result, over the 39 days of the operation, Iran launched more than 1,200 ballistic missiles, including more than 800 in the first five days. As of March 8, the Iranians reportedly had about 150 of their approximately 460 launchers.
However, Iran continued to launch an average of 20-40 ballistic missiles per day, with a peak of 59.
The Pentagon later revealed that one of the countermeasures was to strike tunnel entrances to "seal" them for a certain period of time. In addition, active remote mining of roads was carried out.
The main tool for hunting Iranian ballistic missile launchers was the MQ-9 Reaper strike and reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle. By design, this particular UAV was considered almost the best tool – it is capable of staying in the air for more than a day, has a powerful optical sighting station on board for detecting targets and means for independently destroying detected targets.
However, as data on the number of Iranian missile attacks show, the active use of the MQ-9 Reaper UAV has not radically changed the situation. At the same time, according to unofficial information, 45 of these UAVs out of about 180 available in the United States arsenals were lost.
On the other hand, an alternative to using UAVs would be manned aviation, the price of loss of which would be much higher. This was perfectly demonstrated by the operation to rescue the pilots of the downed F-15E.
That is why the U.S. Air Force has already formulated requirements for a UAV that will replace the MQ-9 Reaper, and it is already known that the successor should be simple, mass-produced, and economical.
So far, the concept of actively hunting launchers with unmanned vehicles is key for the Pentagon, although it does not yet guarantee 100% efficiency.
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