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2019 Iranian shoot-down of American drone
On June 20, 2019, Iran's integrated system of Air Defense Forces shot down a United States RQ-4A Global Hawk BAMS-D surveillance drone with the 3rd Khordad surface-to-air missile over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran and the U.S. differ on where the incident actually occurred. Iranian officials said that the drone violated their airspace, while U.S. officials responded that the drone was in international airspace.
The incident occurred amid rising tensions between the two countries and nearly resulted in an armed confrontation. U.S. President Donald Trump initially ordered a military strike against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) radar and missile sites before reversing the decision. Instead, the U.S. retaliated with cyberattacks on the IRGC's missile-control systems (which Iran says were firewalled), announced new sanctions against several Iranian nationals, and requested a closed-door UN Security Council meeting to address the regional tensions.
The U.S. has been flying surveillance drones in support of maritime security and to spy on Iran for many years. To abide by international law, such flights must take place in international airspace. Aside from the frequent legal reconnaissance flights, Iran has protested what it alleges are violations of its sovereign airspace. It has said that two U.S. spy drones crashed in Iran, a Shadow 200 (RQ-7), which it said crashed 37 miles (60 km) inside Iran in Ilam Province on July 4, 2005, and a Hermes drone near Khorramabad, about 125 miles (201 km) inside Iran, on August 25, 2005. A later program of secret drone flights within Iranian airspace, run by the American Central Intelligence Agency, came to light following Iran's capture of a stealth spy drone inside Iranian territory on December 5, 2011. The program entailed frequently sending stealth drones into Iran.
According to the U.S., the drone involved in the June 2019 incident was one of four Broad Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator (BAMS-D) RQ-4 Global Hawks built as predecessors to the MQ-4C Triton, and operated by the U.S. Navy. The drone is believed to be the largest drone in the entire fleet of the U.S military. An MQ-4C Triton has a price of $182 million (including R&D costs).
The BAMS-D flies at high altitude, but is not a stealth aircraft. It does not carry munitions.
Iranian Major General and IRGC commander Hossein Salami said that the drone took off at 00:14 local time from a U.S. military base south of the Persian Gulf and flew toward Chabahar. He alleged that, on its return journey, it violated the Iranian airspace near the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the drone was at 25°59′43″N 57°02′25″E / 25.99528°N 57.04028°E when it was targeted at 04:05 local time (23:35 GMT, June 19). These GPS coordinates put it at 8.3 nautical miles (15.3 km) off Iran's coast, within the 12 nautical miles (22 km) of its claimed territorial waters. According to Iran, the drone was struck by an Iranian-produced 3rd Khordad SAM located near Garuk, Hormozgan Province. However, citing a Pentagon official, Newsweek reported the missile as a Russian-origin S-125 Neva/Pechora. Iranian forces displayed sections of the drone, which the foreign minister stated had been retrieved from Iranian territorial waters. According to TIME, smoke from the drone was seen as shown in a video by the U.S. military.
The Iranian account of the drone's location at the time of the shoot-down was contested by the United States. The commander of United States Air Forces Central Command, Air Force Lieutenant General Joseph Guastella, said the "closest that the drone got to the Iranian coast was 21 miles." Later, U.S. Central Command issued a map of the RQ-4A's flight path, showing the attack position as several miles outside Iran's territorial waters. They also released an infra-red image of an apparent explosion destroying the RQ-4A taken from another aircraft at 25°57′27″N 56°52′39″E / 25.95750°N 56.87750°E, 17.3 nautical miles (32.0 km) off Iran's coast. The New York Times, citing a senior official in the Trump administration, reported that there were some doubts inside the administration about whether the drone and a Boeing P-8 Poseidon manned aircraft had indeed avoided Iranian airspace throughout their entire flights. Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said that the U.S. was warned twice about the infringement of Iran's territorial limit and stated, "When it did not redirect its route and continued flying toward and into our territory, we had to shoot it at 4:05 a.m. Our national security is a red line." Hajizadeh also talked about the manned American P-8 plane over Iran's territory, saying "With the U.S. drone in the region there was also an American P-8 plane with 35 people on board. This plane also entered our airspace and we could have shot it down, but we did not."
Iranians stated that the P-8 had heeded warnings and moved further off the Iranian coast. The P-8 is a naval aircraft that the U.S. uses for surveillance that is equipped with weapons to destroy ships and submarines. Hours later, the Pentagon confirmed the presence of a P-8 Poseidon aircraft close to the incident.
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2019 Iranian shoot-down of American drone AI simulator
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2019 Iranian shoot-down of American drone
On June 20, 2019, Iran's integrated system of Air Defense Forces shot down a United States RQ-4A Global Hawk BAMS-D surveillance drone with the 3rd Khordad surface-to-air missile over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran and the U.S. differ on where the incident actually occurred. Iranian officials said that the drone violated their airspace, while U.S. officials responded that the drone was in international airspace.
The incident occurred amid rising tensions between the two countries and nearly resulted in an armed confrontation. U.S. President Donald Trump initially ordered a military strike against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) radar and missile sites before reversing the decision. Instead, the U.S. retaliated with cyberattacks on the IRGC's missile-control systems (which Iran says were firewalled), announced new sanctions against several Iranian nationals, and requested a closed-door UN Security Council meeting to address the regional tensions.
The U.S. has been flying surveillance drones in support of maritime security and to spy on Iran for many years. To abide by international law, such flights must take place in international airspace. Aside from the frequent legal reconnaissance flights, Iran has protested what it alleges are violations of its sovereign airspace. It has said that two U.S. spy drones crashed in Iran, a Shadow 200 (RQ-7), which it said crashed 37 miles (60 km) inside Iran in Ilam Province on July 4, 2005, and a Hermes drone near Khorramabad, about 125 miles (201 km) inside Iran, on August 25, 2005. A later program of secret drone flights within Iranian airspace, run by the American Central Intelligence Agency, came to light following Iran's capture of a stealth spy drone inside Iranian territory on December 5, 2011. The program entailed frequently sending stealth drones into Iran.
According to the U.S., the drone involved in the June 2019 incident was one of four Broad Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator (BAMS-D) RQ-4 Global Hawks built as predecessors to the MQ-4C Triton, and operated by the U.S. Navy. The drone is believed to be the largest drone in the entire fleet of the U.S military. An MQ-4C Triton has a price of $182 million (including R&D costs).
The BAMS-D flies at high altitude, but is not a stealth aircraft. It does not carry munitions.
Iranian Major General and IRGC commander Hossein Salami said that the drone took off at 00:14 local time from a U.S. military base south of the Persian Gulf and flew toward Chabahar. He alleged that, on its return journey, it violated the Iranian airspace near the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the drone was at 25°59′43″N 57°02′25″E / 25.99528°N 57.04028°E when it was targeted at 04:05 local time (23:35 GMT, June 19). These GPS coordinates put it at 8.3 nautical miles (15.3 km) off Iran's coast, within the 12 nautical miles (22 km) of its claimed territorial waters. According to Iran, the drone was struck by an Iranian-produced 3rd Khordad SAM located near Garuk, Hormozgan Province. However, citing a Pentagon official, Newsweek reported the missile as a Russian-origin S-125 Neva/Pechora. Iranian forces displayed sections of the drone, which the foreign minister stated had been retrieved from Iranian territorial waters. According to TIME, smoke from the drone was seen as shown in a video by the U.S. military.
The Iranian account of the drone's location at the time of the shoot-down was contested by the United States. The commander of United States Air Forces Central Command, Air Force Lieutenant General Joseph Guastella, said the "closest that the drone got to the Iranian coast was 21 miles." Later, U.S. Central Command issued a map of the RQ-4A's flight path, showing the attack position as several miles outside Iran's territorial waters. They also released an infra-red image of an apparent explosion destroying the RQ-4A taken from another aircraft at 25°57′27″N 56°52′39″E / 25.95750°N 56.87750°E, 17.3 nautical miles (32.0 km) off Iran's coast. The New York Times, citing a senior official in the Trump administration, reported that there were some doubts inside the administration about whether the drone and a Boeing P-8 Poseidon manned aircraft had indeed avoided Iranian airspace throughout their entire flights. Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said that the U.S. was warned twice about the infringement of Iran's territorial limit and stated, "When it did not redirect its route and continued flying toward and into our territory, we had to shoot it at 4:05 a.m. Our national security is a red line." Hajizadeh also talked about the manned American P-8 plane over Iran's territory, saying "With the U.S. drone in the region there was also an American P-8 plane with 35 people on board. This plane also entered our airspace and we could have shot it down, but we did not."
Iranians stated that the P-8 had heeded warnings and moved further off the Iranian coast. The P-8 is a naval aircraft that the U.S. uses for surveillance that is equipped with weapons to destroy ships and submarines. Hours later, the Pentagon confirmed the presence of a P-8 Poseidon aircraft close to the incident.