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Why should Americans worry about unmanned drones? As long as Obama keeps illegally sending them into Iran to get shot down they aren't buzzing my neighborhood infringing upon my Rights. It's a win, win for everyone.
A U.S. spokesman said the U.S. drone - under escort by two U.S. military aircraft - was conducting routine classified surveillance on Tuesday when the Iranian plane closed to within 25 kilometers. The spokesman said all U.S. aircraft remained over international waters at all times and added that the Iranian aircraft later departed after a verbal warning.
Last November, Iran confirmed a similar Pentagon report that two Iranian warplanes fired on and missed an unarmed U.S. drone in the Gulf. Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted at the time in official Iranian media as saying the action was ordered against an anonymous plane that had entered Iranian airspace.
This Nov. 8, 2011 file photo shows a Predator B unmanned aircraft landing after a mission
Pentagon officials said the U.S. Predator drone was over international waters on November 1 conducting routine surveillance when the attack occurred. The incident is the second such encounter made public in the past four months, and comes ahead of a visit to Israel by U.S. President Barack Obama that is expected to focus largely on Iran's suspected nuclear ambitions and Israeli vows to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
Israel has repeatedly threatened to take military action if Iran appears on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb. The Obama administration has urged restraint and encouraged Israel to allow the pressure of international diplomacy and economic sanctions to force an end to Iran's secretive nuclear program. Ahead of his trip, President Obama told Israeli television that it would currently take more than a year for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.
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The Iranian jet flew to within 16 miles of the propeller-powered aircraft before being verbally warned away, he said. Two American jets flew to escort the drone, which the Little said had been flying over international waters throughout its mission.
In November, an Iranian Su-25 jet fired on another unmanned U.S. aircraft, prompting the United States to warn the Iranians it would continue conducting such flights over international waters and protect its military assets.
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Apparently after Iran shot down our drone a few years ago, we have started escorting them with our own fighter jets. This is to ensure the drone is not shot down. I think it is interesting Iran is trying to stop CIA efforts in the region.
Hezbollah denied involvement, but the incident was likely to heighten Israeli concerns that the Shiite militant group is trying to take advantage of the unrest in neighboring Syria to strengthen its capabilities. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in a helicopter in northern Israel at the time of the incident, said he viewed it with "utmost gravity." Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the unmanned aircraft was detected as it was flying over Lebanon and tracked as it approached Israeli airspace.
He said the military waited for the aircraft to enter Israeli airspace, confirmed it was "enemy," and then an F-16 warplane shot it down, smashing its wreckage into the sea about five miles (eight kilometers) off the northern port of Haifa. Lerner said Israeli naval forces were searching for the remains of the aircraft. He said it still was not clear who sent the drone, noting it flew over Lebanese airspace, but that it could have originated from somewhere else. Other military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk to the media, said they believed it was an Iranian-manufactured aircraft sent by Hezbollah. The Lebanese group sent a drone into Israeli airspace last October that Israel also shot down.
Officials said Netanyahu was informed of the unfolding incident as he was flying north for a cultural event with members of the country's Druse minority. They said his helicopter briefly landed while the drone was intercepted then continued on its way. "On my way here in the helicopter, I was told that there is an infiltration attempt of a drone inside the skies of Israel," Netanyahu said in the northern Arab-Israeli town of Daliyat al-Karmel. "We will continue to do everything necessary to safeguard the security of Israel's citizens."
Despite the denial, the incident was likely to raise already heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, a bitter enemy that battled Israel to a stalemate during a monthlong war in 2006. A senior Lebanese security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Lebanon had no information on Thursday's incident. When Israeli military shot down a Hezbollah drone on Oct. 6, it took days for Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah to confirm it. He warned in a speech that it wouldn't be the last operation by the group. He said the sophisticated aircraft was made in Iran and assembled by Hezbollah.
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The attack didn't happen the man was later captured and brought to China for trial but the fact that authorities were considering such an option cast new light on China's unmanned aerial vehicle program, which has been quietly percolating for years and now appears to be moving into overdrive. Chinese aerospace firms have developed dozens of drones, known also as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. Many have appeared at air shows and military parades, including some that bear an uncanny resemblance to the Predator, Global Hawk and Reaper models used with deadly effect by the U.S. Air Force and CIA. Analysts say that although China still trails the U.S. and Israel, the industry leaders, its technology is maturing rapidly and on the cusp of widespread use for surveillance and combat strikes. "My sense is that China is moving into large-scale deployments of UAVs," said Ian Easton, co-author of a recent report on Chinese drones for the Project 2049 Institute security think tank.
China's move into large-scale drone deployment displays its military's growing sophistication and could challenge U.S. military dominance in the Asia-Pacific. It also could elevate the threat to neighbors with territorial disputes with Beijing, including Vietnam, Japan, India and the Philippines. China says its drones are capable of carrying bombs and missiles as well as conducting reconnaissance, potentially turning them into offensive weapons in a border conflict. China's increased use of drones also adds to concerns about the lack of internationally recognized standards for drone attacks. The United States has widely employed drones as a means of eliminating terror suspects in Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula. "China is following the precedent set by the U.S. The thinking is that, 'If the U.S. can do it, so can we. They're a big country with security interests and so are we'," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior fellow at the arms transfers program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, or SIPRI. "The justification for an attack would be that Beijing too has a responsibility for the safety of its citizens. There needs to be agreement on what the limits are," he said.
Though China claims its military posture is entirely defensive, its navy and civilian maritime services have engaged in repeated standoffs with ships from other nations in the South China and East China seas. India, meanwhile, says Chinese troops have set up camp almost 20 kilometers (12 miles) into Indian-claimed territory. It isn't yet known exactly what China's latest drones are capable of, because, like most Chinese equipment, they remain untested in battle. The military and associated aerospace firms have offered little information, although in an interview last month with the official Xinhua News Agency, Yang Baikui, chief designer at plane maker COSIC, said Chinese drones were closing the gap but still needed to progress in half a dozen major areas, from airframe design to digital linkups.
More China emerging as new force in drone warfare | CNS News
