US drones on the Iranian conveyor
Defense Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) Ahmad Vahidi said that Iran is starting production of unmanned aerial vehicles modeled after the American RQ-170 Sentinel UAV, also known as the "Kandahar Beast". According to A.Vahidi, Iranian Drones will be equipped with more advanced control and security systems than their American counterparts.
Recall that in December 2011, the Iranian military intercepted the American unmanned aerial vehicle RQ-170 Sentinel manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The peculiarity of this drone is its versatility and special detection protection systems, as it was created using Stealth technology, which makes it invisible to enemy radar.
However, despite the protection systems used, the Iranians were able not only to detect the UAV, but also to infiltrate its control system and land, which is a very difficult task. It should be emphasized that so far no one has been able to disable and obtain the drones of this modification.
After the official statement of the Iranian side about their success, the Americans did not recognize the loss of the UAV. In response, the Iranians showed a video showing how the RQ-170 lands at the Iranian airfield.
US President Barack Obama had no choice but to admit that a United States drone had intruded into the airspace of a sovereign state. But, despite the violation of international norms, the Americans still had the audacity to demand the return of the captured by the Iranians drone, to which Tehran responded with a stern refusal.
A year later, the Iranians repeated their previous success, intercepting another United States UAV. This 4 December said the representative of the Corps of Guards of the Islamic Revolution (IRGC) public relations, General Ramadan Sharif.
Another captured UAV is called ScanEagle and, like the “Kandahar beast,” is in service with the US Navy. This drone is notable for its small size and the ability to perform reconnaissance tasks at low altitudes, which makes it difficult for the enemy to detect it.
Repeated incident with the interception of Iranian UAVs, suggests that the United States government, not only did not make conclusions, but continues to invade Iranian airspace. Moreover, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta openly declared that the armed forces are not going to stop intelligence operations over Iranian territory.
Nevertheless, the success of the Iranians suggests that Iranian air defenses were able to find a means against high-tech unmanned aerial vehicles manufactured by the United States. According to experts, we are talking about special air defense systems, the purpose of which is to break the connection of the UAV with the center and the subsequent intervention in their global positioning system (GPS). This is evidenced by the fact that the US military could not activate the system of self-destruction, which is equipped with almost all modern UAVs.
As a result of interceptions of American drones, Iranian specialists obtained materials for research, which are already being used by them, both for improving air defense systems and in the field of aircraft manufacturing.
This is confirmed by the recent demonstration of the new Iranian Shahid - 129 unmanned aerial vehicle designed for combat operations and aerial reconnaissance. According to the statement of the IRGC Commander Mohhamad Ali Jafari, this drone can be in the air up to 24 hours and hit targets with precision-guided munitions. A number of experts attribute the appearance of this drone to last year’s interception of the RQ-170 and believe that Iran’s designers took some technologies from Shahid.
In the light of recent events unfolding around Iran, it becomes obvious that Iran has achieved significant results in the field of the military industry. In addition to creating its own reconnaissance and combat UAVs, Tehran demonstrated a high level of professionalism and equipment of the air defense units.
At the same time, the Iranians were able to create a "headache" for the Americans in the form of the need to improve the protection systems of their UAVs and questioned the Pentagon’s ability to conduct an air military operation against Iran.
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