Bumper64 Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's military said on Sunday it had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran, amilitary source told state television. "Iran's military has downed an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran," Iran's Arabic-language Al Alam state television network quoted the unnamed source as saying. "The spy drone, which has been downed with little damage, was seized by the Iranian armed forces." Iran shot down the drone at a time when it is trying to contain foreign reaction to the storming of the British embassy in Tehran on Tuesday, shortly after London announced that it would impose sanctions on Iran's central bank in connection with Iran's controversial nuclear enrichment program. Britain evacuated its diplomatic staff from Iran and expelled Iranian diplomats in London in retaliation, and several other EU members recalled their ambassadors from Tehran. The attack dragged Iran's relations with Europe to a long-time low. Washington and EU countries have been discussing measures to restrict Iran's oil exports since the United Nations nuclear watchdog issued a report in November with what it said was evidence that Tehran had worked on designing an atom bomb. Iran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. http://news.yahoo.com/iran-military-shoots-down-u-drone-state-tv-142804389.html 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammer911 Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 04 December, 2011, 18:36 Iranian military shoots down US drone TAGS: Military, Iran, USA Iran's military says it has shot down a US reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran, Reuters news agency reports, citing state television. "Iran's military has shot down an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran," an unnamed source has reportedly told Iran's Arabic-language television network. According to Press TV reports, Iranian authorities managed to seize the unmanned aircraft upon being downed, which they claim received "minimum damage." The drone, reportedly an RQ-170 sentinel, "is a low observable unmanned aircraft system which the United States Air Force uses to "directly support combatant commander needs for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to locate targets." According to the semi-official Fars news agency, Iran says it will continue to respond in kind to any drones that have violated the country's airspace, even from outside the country's borders. The US military has yet to comment on the report. In July, Iranian officials also claimed a US drone was shot down while flying over the city of Qom, which authorities say was gathering intel on a nearby nuclear facility. Sunday’s reports of the downed drone come as the conflict between the US and Iran centering around the Islamic republic's alleged nuclear weapons program continue to intensify. In November, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors passed a resolution urging Iran to provide access to its nuclear facilities to UN experts. The resolution followed a November 8 IAEA report which claimed Iran had been actively developing weapons. While Iran has continued to maintain that their nuclear ambitions are for peaceful purposes, the US and the European Union have chosen to tighten sanctions on key Iranian industries. Diplomatic tensions between Iran and the West continued to intensify after dozen's of Iranian students stormed the British embassy in Tehran Tuesday in response to the unilateral imposition of sanctions. Britain immediately shut down its embassy in Tehran and subsequently closed the Iranian embassy in London on Wedensday, expelling all of its staff. Other European countries also responded in kind, as Norway closed its embassy in Tehran, while Germany, ITaly, Sweden, and teh Netherlands all opted to recall their ambassadors. As the threats of even tighter sanctions loom over the country, Iran’s foreign ministry had responded that any attempts by the West to block oil exports would be met with a doubling of crude oil prices on the global market. "As soon as such an issue is raised seriously the oil price would soar to above $250 a barrel," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast reportedly said. Iran, which received some $56 billion in the first seven months of 2011 from crude oil exports, is the world's third-largest crude exporter and heavily dependent on revenues generated from the trade. And while no final agreement on an oil embargo against Iran has been agreed upon within Europe, tougher sanctions could be be finalized next week, as various EU heads of state are set to meet for a summit this coming Thursday. http://rt.com/news/iran-us-drone-shot-001/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrello Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 We will see what our military says about this. Maybe Iran will release another Photoshopped depiction of their victory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigmeister Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 Iran's been target shooting I see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyDownTheShore Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 As long as it's not a manned aircraft I don't think it'll spark any war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxinjersey Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 I really hope those things have a self-destruct mechanism to keep the technology safe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
few24u Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 Those US made defense guns they are using are pretty accurate it seems. I bet there is a victory party going on in Iran right now! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zildjian67 Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 How do you "shoot" down a drone with "little" damage? I don't see it happening without destroying the drone. "D" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodandStaff Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 (edited) How do you "shoot" down a drone with "little" damage? I don't see it happening without destroying the drone. "D" My thoughts exactly... how does something light enough to fly take some kind of missile hit, or be shot down by bullets and crash land and not sustain enough damage to be considered worthless. This sounds like propaganda hype to me.... imo! Thanks for the post Bumper! Edited December 4, 2011 by RodandStaff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrparrot Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 (edited) I'm not buying it. We have satellites with the kind of imaging that can bounce back an image so clear and accurate that you could count the pimples on Okie's butt when he's laying on the beach while wearing a thong. Why would we waste the time sending a drone...? Edited December 4, 2011 by mrparrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatoneguy Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 I think that this is only the beginning, whether true or not. But hey, if Iran wants an ass kicking, I'll help Uncle Sammy lace up his boots! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usndiver Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 How do you "shoot" down a drone with "little" damage? I don't see it happening without destroying the drone. "D" And you have to consider the altitude at which they operate. The MQ-9 has an operational altitude of 50,000 feet. I don't have the time to figure out the speed of impact but anything falling from that height is not going to have minimal damage. We'll have to see what their photo shop boys put together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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