| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Iran Spying on US Aircraft Carrier? | |
| 2006-11-11 | |
| Arabic language television station broadcast footage it claimed showed a US aircraft carrier cruising in Gulf waters it said was taken by an unmanned Iranian drone. The brief minute-long film, which was shown on Al-Alam television's evening news bulletin, showed wobbly aerial footage of an aircraft carrier stacked with war planes as it sailed. The television's anchor said the film, the property of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, showed a vessel from "the US fleet in the Persian Gulf". "A source in the Revolutionary Guard said the drone carried out its mission without US fighter pilots reaching it," the television said.
The broadcast comes near the end of Iran's latest 10-day war games, "Great Prophet II", which military chiefs have said were aimed at showing off Iran's defensive prowess and testing new military hardware. The war games coincided with US-led naval manoeuvres in the Gulf off Iran aimed at halting arms-trafficking, the first time such an exercise has been held in the area. | |
| Posted by:Thramble Thavimble6880 |
| #8 And then again, supposing it's true, perhaps someone had the idea that it might be good to let them take a hard look at things. This presents some hilarious possibilities once the trophy is landed on the carrier deck. Let's play "Guess the body part"! :-) |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-11-11 23:15 |
| #7 It may be possible to snatch the contraption out of the air with a helicopter, which can approach unseen from behind. A sailor who knows how to make a rabbit snare could probably rig this. This presents some hilarious possibilities once the trophy is landed on the carrier deck. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2006-11-11 23:06 |
| #6 Is there a way to shoot those things down even? I bet the Phalanx system could take care of it, assuming they could detect it. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-11-11 21:16 |
| #5 Need a squid like airplane or balloon to vaccum these up? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-11-11 21:11 |
| #4 Is there a way to shoot those things down even? If they got sucked into a jet engine they would wreak havoc. I don't know that something with the radar cross section of a bird would even be something a very expensive missile would be even interested in. And did anyone see what kind of "wobbly"? The twisting kind, which I would expect from an up-close encounter where wind would twist the drone away from level, or the up-and-down/side-to-side kind that indicates it was taken from far away? And the RC controls would be quite detectable, I would think. And quite jam-able, too! To have any hope of guiding that drone, they would have to transmit back in real time, which would also be detectable unless they have some kind of directional antenna. I'm thinkin' BS, too. |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-11-11 20:57 |
| #3 If the film was any good, it is a fairly certian bet the hull numbers would be visible, either on the island or the bow. Since there are only 12 to choose from, the search would be quick. regarding the comment"...drone carried out its mission without US fighter pilots reaching it," whenever the USSR would appraoch a carrie, the fighter CAP (Carier Air Patrol) would get between it and the ship; how do these clowns know there werent't aircraft in position? Serious note: depending on the size of this drone, if it weren't spotted (due to small size, none radar reflective materials or both), and it carried any sort of ordnance that could be problematic. Even a small explosion on the roof with a deck full of jets could spell trouble. While the emergency was being dealt with, the Iranians could launch their real stuff and with nothing in the air or availalbe to shoot, that wouldn't be pretty. If they dropped that drone between cats 1 and 2 that would get maximum effect, i think. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret 2006-11-11 20:36 |
| #2 ...showed wobbly aerial footage of an aircraft carrier... Must be one of those Chinese R/C models like Taliban was using. they're really budget busters @ $100 or less each plus camera. |
| Posted by: GK 2006-11-11 20:14 |
| #1 uh huh... just like their sub photos (actually Chinese) . Lying MFers with a second (or third) rate military and first rate ambitions. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-11-11 19:29 |