Somewhere above the coast of southern Iran on Sunday, a small unmanned aircraft stopped flying. Iran says it did not stop on its own.
Military sources in the southeastern air defense command say an Israeli “Orbiter” reconnaissance drone drifted into the airspace covered by Iran’s southern defense network over Hormozgan province. A defense system fired. The drone came down. Iranian officials describe the aircraft as an espionage and surveillance platform, and say the system that brought it down is a specialized one whose technical specifications they have not made public.
What Iran says it can see
Military officials based in Bandar Abbas, the port city that anchors the province, made a bigger claim than the shoot-down itself. They said the same system can detect and engage drones built to evade radar, and that no stealth aircraft could slip through the stretch of sky running from the Gulf islands inland across the south and southeast of the country.
The wreckage did not stay where it fell for long. Maritime border police units working in Hormozgan helped recover it, and Al Jazeera, as relayed by News.Az, reported that the remains of the shattered Orbiter were found in cooperation with Iran’s naval forces.
A war of drones
The announcement lands in a conflict where unmanned aircraft are losing altitude on all sides. Press TV pointed to a recent Bloomberg report on the loss of several advanced American drones in the war against Iran. The MQ-9 Reaper was one of them, an aircraft long held up as proof of American technical superiority, used for tracking and precision strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
Analysts quoted by the Iranian broadcaster argue that the damage goes past the price of each airframe. Every loss raises questions about what modern airpower can achieve and how long a drawn-out campaign can be sustained. In the United States, the same outlet notes, criticism of the war’s aims and results has been growing.
Sources
- Iran shoots down Israeli spy drone over Hormozgan province
- Iran shoots down Israeli spy drone in Hormozgan province
