Iran is like a little annoying chiuaua nipping at our heels...

[magley64]

http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-says-iranian-warplanes-fired-u-drone-over-200033688.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iranian warplanes fired multiple rounds at an unmanned unarmed U.S. surveillance aircraft in international airspace over the Gulf last week, but the craft was undamaged and returned safely to its base, Pentagon spokesman George Little said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta were both advised early on about the unprecedented incident, which occurred at about 4:50 a.m. ET (0850 GMT) on November 1.

Iran was later warned through diplomatic channels the United States would keep conducting surveillance flights in the region and would protect its military assets, Little said.

"The United States has communicated to the Iranians that we will continue to conduct surveillance flights over international waters over the Arabian Gulf consistent with longstanding practice and our commitment to the security of the region," Little told a Pentagon briefing.

"We have a wide range of options from diplomatic to military to protect our military assets and our forces ... and will do so when necessary," he added.

The incident came a year after a CIA drone crashed in Iran - giving the Islamic Republic access to sensitive American technology.

The MQ-1 "Predator" military drone involved in the latest incident on November 1 was conducting routine surveillance over the Gulf 16 nautical miles from Iran when it was intercepted by Russian-made Iranian SU-25 "Frogfoot" aircraft and was fired upon with guns, Little said.

Another Pentagon spokesman confirmed that two SU-25s were involved.

Asked whether the Iranians may have been firing warning shots, Little said the U.S. assessment was that the Iranian aircraft were aiming to shoot down the U.S. drone.

"Our aircraft was never in Iranian air space. It was always flying in international air space. The internationally recognized territorial limit is 12 nautical miles off the coast and we never entered the 12 nautical mile limit," Little said.

The Pentagon said relevant officials in Congress were informed of the incident. Little declined to say which military service owned the drone.

Do they not realize this could be construed as an act of war?

Had that been a manned plane, I imagine they'd have gotten some missiles fired up their asses.

[cOoTeR]

http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-says-iranian-warplanes-fired-u-drone-over-200033688.html

Do they not realize this could be construed as an act of war?

Had that been a manned plane, I imagine they'd have gotten some missiles fired up their asses.

Mexican military has driven into the united states more than once and fired upon Federal agents. That was just written of as a navigational error. Other countries may be like a chihuahua nipping at our heels but they know we are the big guard dog that won't be let off its chain.

http://www.wnd.com/2000/11/2205/

Edited November 8, 2012 by cOoTeR

[ScubaCinci]

Pilot fail...can't even hit an unarmed drone with 30mm cannons

[magley64]

Pilot fail...can't even hit an unarmed drone with 30mm cannons

That's kinda what I was thinking, how do you miss an unmanned drone?

It's not likely to have been taking evasive action, right?

[CephasGT]

Unmanned drone is redundant.

Anyway, the closing speed between an MQ-1 and an SU-25 is probably somewhere around 350 knots. Harder than you might think to hit something what that speed differential.

[C-bus]

I think Obama should apologize

[HeavyDuty]

C-bus

2 f-ing funny dont worry he will

[flounder]

Sounds fishy.. how the hell could 2 SU-25s miss when firing at a Predator UAV..?

And if it were legit, why would you use guns and not a missile unless you were just trying to damage it enough to bring it down and recover it for inspection.

[ReconRat]

Sounds fishy.. how the hell could 2 SU-25s miss when firing at a Predator UAV..?

And if it were legit, why would you use guns and not a missile unless you were just trying to damage it enough to bring it down and recover it for inspection.

The SU-25 targeting display is optimized for attacking the ground. It's not capable of assisting in ballistic lead of a moving airborne target. It would probably have trouble with a moving ground target. Wrong tool for the job...

[ReconRat]

Unmanned drone is redundant...

You're right. That is redundant. Have some +rep.

Now don't feel bad. Pilots are sometimes put in unmanned drones in order to flight test them.

At which time it's a manned drone.

But not a manned unmanned drone undrone.

[cOoTeR]

I heard it takes at least three pilots to launch a predator at least for federal agencies. It takes the guy controlling it, a plane to take off with it and a third to observe it until it gets to a certain altitude.

[magley64]

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's defense minister said Friday that a U.S. drone violated Iranian airspace a week ago when Pentagon says the pilotless aircraft came under fire. The U.S. maintains the drone was over international waters.

"Last week, an unknown aircraft entered Iran's airspace in the Persian Gulf," said Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. "It was forced to leave on time by a wise and strong reaction on the part of the Iranian armed forces."

Vahidi's remarks came a day after the Pentagon said an Iranian military plane fired on — at least twice — but did not hit, an unarmed U.S. drone a week ago. A Pentagon spokesman said the pilotless aircraft was in international airspace over the Persian Gulf and returned to base unharmed.

The shooting in the Gulf, which occurred just before 5 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Nov. 1, was unprecedented, though it marked the second incident involving a U.S. drone and Iran.

Last December, a U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone equipped with stealth technology was captured in eastern Iran. Tehran claims it brought down the aircraft, but U.S. officials said the drone malfunctioned and had to land.

Vahidi, the Iranian defense minister, was quoted Friday by the country's official IRNA news agency as saying last week's incident "proves that Iran monitors all moves (in the Gulf) and will apply necessary and strong action when needed."

His remarks followed those of Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Saleh Jokar who earlier Friday told state-owned yjc.ir news website that Iranian fighters shot at the U.S. drone because it had entered Iranian airspace.

"Violation of the airspace of Iran was the reason for shooting at the American drone," Jokar said. "This showed Iran has the necessary readiness to defend against any invasion."

so 2 of your fighter planes engaged a drone and failed to hit it... that means you're ready to defend against an invasion?

What? unless someone invades you with drones, apparently, then you'll have absolutely nothing to do about it since you can't hit one.

[CephasGT]

Sounds fishy.. how the hell could 2 SU-25s miss when firing at a Predator UAV..?

And if it were legit, why would you use guns and not a missile unless you were just trying to damage it enough to bring it down and recover it for inspection.

Very possible that they didn't have missiles available. For that matter, the IR signature and radar cross-section of a Pred probably isn't enough for a good lock with the old crap they're using.

Now don't feel bad. Pilots are sometimes put in unmanned drones in order to flight test them.

At which time it's a manned drone.

But not a manned unmanned drone undrone.

Uhhh what in the world are you talking about?

Drone = unmanned. There are some test platforms that are manned, but can fly semi-autonomously, but there's nobody shoving pilots inside Preds or Reapers.

I heard it takes at least three pilots to launch a predator at least for federal agencies. It takes the guy controlling it, a plane to take off with it and a third to observe it until it gets to a certain altitude.

Two pilots inside national airspace. One taking off, another to follow as a spotter until it reaches a MOA.

[ReconRat]

Uhhh what in the world are you talking about?

Drone = unmanned. There are some test platforms that are manned, but can fly semi-autonomously, but there's nobody shoving pilots inside Preds or Reapers.

Relax, I'm just messing with Isaac's Papa.

Currently civilian and military aircraft are being tested in autonomous mode (unmanned) with a pilot on board to observe. Which is reasonable, since the end result is a plan to fly both commercial and military with passengers or cargo but no pilots. Which would be yet another type of manned drone. Not sure I want to fly on an "unmanned 727".

Drone with a pilot in it:

Centaur drone

Gyrodyne QH-50

K-MAX pilotless freight helicopter

modified unmanned Jetstream aircraft

[CephasGT]

I dunno if you'd call it a drone at that point. Weird gray area, for sure.

[ReconRat]

Now for the truly weird in drones. This is a drone. It's fully capable of autonomous take off, flight, and landing. Without pilots on board. The autopilot and navigation computer on an Antov An-225 Mriya is so extreme, it can start and complete a mission on it's own. Normally flown with crew on board since, well, it's expensive...

[cOoTeR]

Now for the truly weird in drones. This is a drone. It's fully capable of autonomous take off, flight, and landing. Without pilots on board. The autopilot and navigation computer on an Antov An-225 Mriya is so extreme, it can start and complete a mission on it's own. Normally flown with crew on board since, well, it's expensive...

It can fly its self but they put a crew on it because it is expensive? Kind of seems pointless to me. This plane is so expensive since it can fly itself that we (whoever owns it) need to have people fly it. The only benefit I can thing of is if its got a crazy huge fuel capacity and it can fly long enough to allow the crew to snooze. But if that were the case you'd think 2 rotating flight crews would be cheaper then building it to fly its self.

[ReconRat]

True Cooter. I'm messing with people again. The autopilot is there because it's so hard for humans to fly. And the biggest part of that, is the height above the ground to the cockpit. It's hard to visualize where the runway is when landing. Similar to a Boeing 747 which has an auto landing capability, that's always used. It's true that the Russians went overboard and gave it the capability to fly itself. But it still needs somebody to start engines and push the go button.

The way it was described when the capability was first discovered (the Russians kept secrets back then), was that it was capable of memorizing any flight that it made from runway to runway, and could repeat it by itself.