Transforming Modern Warfare Strategy: Lessons from EMSO and JADO in the Venezuela and Iran Conflicts for Indonesia
This article is a column; the entire content and opinion are the author’s personal views and do not reflect the editorial stance.
The world is once again shocked by the emergence of a new war and military operations in the Middle East. On Saturday 28 February 2026, the United States (US) together with Israel launched a large-scale combat operation targeting Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury.
United States President, Donald J. Trump, claimed that the attack was conducted to protect the United States’ interests in the region from the threat posed by Iran, and to prevent Iran from developing and possessing nuclear weapons.
Through the attack carried out in coordination with Israel yesterday, the US unexpectedly succeeded in killing Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
This attack on Iran ultimately added to the long list of modern-scale military operations authorised by the US President.
Looking back at the dynamics of modern-scale military operations launched by the United States, such as Operation Midnight Hammer which targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities on 22 June 2025, Operation Absolute Resolve which marked a series of strikes in Venezuela in early January 2026, and the large campaign now known as Operation Epic Fury against Iran, there are important lessons about the character of modern warfare that need to be understood.
The three operations show that the concept of modern warfare today heavily emphasises a multi-domain approach, where non-kinetic phases such as cyber operations, intelligence, and electromagnetic spectrum dominance often serve as opening elements before kinetic strikes are deployed.
This approach enables high mission effectiveness while significantly minimising casualties and material losses compared with direct confrontation.
Such a concept is not new, but increasingly relevant and frequently applied in various modern military operations where success is determined by the ability to integrate multiple operating domain dimensions simultaneously.
From the tactics of the operations that have taken place, one can conclude that kinetic air and naval strikes never stand alone.
Rather, these strikes can be conducted with the massive deployment of intelligence assets, which previously actively conducted monitoring and intensive surveillance of activities on land.
This support includes the use of satellite imagery, Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), and cyber operations designed to weaken the opponent’s systems before the main assault is carried out.
In addition to deploying kinetic elements through the deployment of fighter aircraft and cruise missile firing, non-kinetic elements such as cyber operations and electronic warfare play a crucial role.
In the case of Venezuela, for example, a number of air defence and radar systems operated by the country reportedly failed to function optimally in detecting and preventing the entry of US military assets into the capital Caracas.
This shows how dominance of the electromagnetic spectrum and system disruption can optimally cripple Venezuela’s conventional defence capabilities.
In the context of the attack on Iran, cyber operations are also said to have been able to disable wide-scale internet connectivity networks. This condition can be likened to “operational blindness”, because signal jamming hampers the exchange of communications and information, thereby weakening coordination and defensive responses.