Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

Quote:

Iranian drone plane buzzes U.S. aircraft carrier in Persian Gulf
RIA Novosti - 30 May 2006

TEHRAN, May 30 - A pilotless Iranian reconnaissance plane
circled for 25 minutes over a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf
before returning safely to its base, a senior Iranian official said Tuesday.

"Our pilotless reconnaissance plane flew over the USS Ronald Reagan in the
Persian Gulf unnoticed to the Americans for 25 minutes," the official said,
according to Iran's Fars agency.

He did not say when the flight took place, but added that U.S. radars picked
up the unmanned aerial vehicle after 25 minutes, and that four USAF fighters and two helicopters were scrambled to intercept it. However, the Iranian plane had already crossed the border back into Iran and landed at its base.

"This points to holes in the U.S. military reconnaissance systems deployed
in the Persian Gulf," the Iranian official said.

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boff180 wrote:

He did not say when the flight took place, but added that U.S. radars picked up the unmanned aerial vehicle after 25 minutes, and that four USAF fighters and two helicopters were scrambled to intercept it

this just lowered the credibility of this article to 0

Not necessarily, HazF16. remember that US media reported that F-15C dropped bombs in OIF...regular journalists generally don't know anthing about military a/c and helo types and roles.

Most likely the 2 helicopters were sent to pick up any sort of debris left in case the 4 fighters managed to shoot down the drone.

The mission probably took place, but those 25 minutes might as well be counted from the moment the drone took off. They turned it back when they saw on radars the US jets scrambled. Most likely it flew towards the carier, but if it was flying circles above it, it would have had no time to run back to their airspace, as those little flying lawnmowers are very slow...

Not to mention how long was Aegis just sitting there watching it. Shocked

Anything from a Tehran media outlet has automatic credibility problems...they recently jailed an editor for publishing an unapproved political cartoon.

I seriously doubt it orbited over the carrier for 25 minutes without being seen. I remember the good old days when Bears and Badgers would buzz our carriers, the goal being to get a picture with both them and the Carrier in frame. We would put fighters tight on his wing, the goal being to let them get a picture with the bomber and the carrier in frame, but also our fighter, reminding them they were there only because we let them.

There might be more than one interpretation for this story...so bear with me
The US has always been keen to get their hands on foreign technology. So maybe tha Aegis did just what sferrin said:sat and watched. A small drone can be easily stalled by the jetwash of a fighter buzzing it. After the splashdown it could be fished out by the helos...
Anyway, the iranians turned it back the moment they saw on radars the US planes taking off, so it didn't get captured

Or even captured by the helo's somehow... I doubt its fast then them Wink

Andy

Another point is why did the USAF and not the Navy scramble?

Elite 1K Joined: May 26, 2005 - 08:39 PM Posts: 1496

I'll believe it when I see the photos which, if they HAD been "orbiting the Ronald Reagan", they would be more than happy to flaunt.

My guess is they "orbited" the carrier at like 30-40 miles, outside the Standard engagement zone and buzzed around. Of course the USN may still be a little SAM shy when it comes to popping unidentified Iranian air targets.

Wargaming. One thing it would give Iran..

They can test the capabilities of a CGBs radar, a carriers response time, ie, launching alert fighters and helo`s. It also lets Iran see what frequency radars are being used by different platforms....

A tiny UAV flying low and slow over a choppy -ish sea is not as easy to detect as many think. Ok, airborne radar would see it easily but who knows Reagan`s AEW state at the time? The only other sure ways of knowing if a UAV is there is by using ESM to detect signals from a transceiver on board the UAV, or with SAR from an intel` aircraft.... From doing things like this Iran can look at it`s "options", ie what it can and cannot do....It is an interesting idea that AEGIS and Standard missiles were just "watching". Why give everything away?

While I agree Iran would be severely limited in it`s effectiveness against a CBG, there is always the element of a surprise. Iran is just "wargaming", they may decide an underwater approach would be required in future "wargames". Underwater (UUWVs) unmanned vehicles are nothing new....Nor mining, etc.

Aerial attack against a CBG is not an option for Iran. If you want to attack with chance of success a carrier you'd need AS-4/6 on some Tu-22M3 Backfire, or sea-launched SS-N-22 Sunburn supersonic missiles.

Their only weapon that could touch a US carrier are Skhval-E torpedoes from a Kilo-class sub - that thing is very silent.

Guysmiley, if they took any photos of the carrier they won't show them because this would give away the capabilities of the UAV used...

RoAF wrote:

Aerial attack against a CBG is not an option for Iran. If you want to attack with chance of success a carrier you'd need AS-4/6 on some Tu-22M3 Backfire, or sea-launched SS-N-22 Sunburn supersonic missiles.

Their only weapon that could touch a US carrier are Skhval-E torpedoes from a Kilo-class sub - that thing is very silent.

Guysmiley, if they took any photos of the carrier they won't show them because this would give away the capabilities of the UAV used...

Hmm, is it possible to launch AS-4/6 from land? Or SS-N-22? Nobody knows what Iran really has. I ask this because Argentina was able to completely re-wire an Exocet missile to enable it to launch from a coastal/fixed land position. It was formerly an air launched round.

Elite 1K Joined: May 26, 2005 - 08:39 PM Posts: 1496

Quote:

Guysmiley, if they took any photos of the carrier they won't show them because this would give away the capabilities of the UAV used...

These aren't spy satellites we're talking about here. You see video from Predator drones all the time. If that really were a concern, it is a trivial matter to downgrade an image to obscure its true resolution.

snypa wrote:

Quote:

Hmm, is it possible to launch AS-4/6 from land? Or SS-N-22? Nobody knows what Iran really has.

AFAIK, no. They have some C-802 (chinese-made land-launched ASM), but these are subsonic (= Phalanx party). Besides, I believe no US ship captain would be so stupid to come within range of the land-based ASMs.

Guysmiley wrote:

Quote:

These aren't spy satellites we're talking about here. You see video from Predator drones all the time. If that really were a concern, it is a trivial matter to downgrade an image to obscure its true resolution.

True enough, but we're not talking about the military of a democratic western country here. E.g. Iran still refuses to acknowledge that Iraqi Mirage F1 fled to Iran during DS, despite the fact that IRIAF has some 20+ F1s in active service since 1992-93.

Elite 1K Joined: May 26, 2005 - 08:39 PM Posts: 1496

That is a good point, but I still think if they had photos Mahmoud would be on TV dry humping them behind his flower covered podium...

Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

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