Email This to a Friend
U.S. Shoots Down Iranian Drone over Iraq
Was the incident a simple Iranian "mistake" — or the prelude to a U.S. military nightmare?
Early overtures by the Obama administration to reach out to the Iranian mullahs via President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are likely to have met their end Monday when it became public that the U.S. shot down an Iranian drone hovering over Iraq — 60 miles north of Baghdad. The shoot-down occurred last month and was first reported by Wired’s Danger Room blog last week, but wasn’t confirmed by a spokesman for the multinational forces in Iraq until Monday.
The suggestion from Iran that the event was “an accident” was immediately put to rest. “This was not an accident on the part of the Iranians,” the military spokesman said, adding, “The [Iranians'] unmanned aerial vehicle was in Iraqi airspace for nearly one hour and 10 minutes and well inside Iraqi territory before” an American fighter jet shot it down.
Iran and Iraq — brutal enemies for decades — are on the same page about the incident. Major General Abdul Aziz Mohammed Jassim, head of military operations at the Iraqi Defense Ministry, told Reuters: “This drone entered Iraq mistakenly at a point 100 km (60 miles) from Baghdad. It crossed 10 km (6 miles) into Iraq. It’s most likely that its entrance (into Iraq) was a mistake.”
Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Iran’s Shi’ite Muslim President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are becoming fast friends, leaving President Obama and his administration out in the cold — most likely forced to pick up the pieces of the downed drone under a hail of predictable criticism. This is because the press loves to vilify drones, turning America’s single most effective weapon in the war on terror into an evil, overflying nemesis of the Pakistani people. That the drone is the killer of local hearts and minds. That U.S. drones (also known as UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles) are the reason for today’s Pakistani backlash against American military presence in the region.
Page 1 of 2 Next ->
Annie Jacobsen writes about aviation and intelligence. She blogs at TheAviationNation.com and is working on a new book for Little Brown and Company.
 |
 |
 |
Podcasts |  PJM Home |
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
16 Comments
1. canuck:The author touches on the problems of defending vs. the UAV, low level activity, small radar shadow and difficult radar coverage. Some effective defense measures will include jamming the two way electronic contact with the drone or taking the control over although encryption will make this difficult.
That leaves destroying the sources: the drone’s home and the electronic control using beam riding missiles. Either one ratchets up the conflict substantially.
Mar 18, 2009 - 3:19 am 2. Pops in Vienna:I can see why the Iraqis are backing up the Iranian B.S. excuse that the incident was a mistake. The Iraqis have to know that Obama will do nothing to defend them if the Iranians ever do decide to attack them.
With Iran becoming a nuclear power in a few months this is a no brainer for Iraq. They have figured out that Obama is weak and that Iran will do exactly what it says it will do.
Mar 18, 2009 - 6:43 am 3. Jack Weston:OK, Annie. Thanks for the update.
Less is more. Your article would have been better if zeroed on the Iran-Iraq drone situation and where it might lead.
There were plenty of spurious elements that were insufficiently linked to the central thesis. Such as the describing how Pakistani villagers are attempting to root out Taliban & Al Quaeda. Etc.
But for all that, thanks for caring and keeping us informed.
Mar 18, 2009 - 7:18 am 4. Professor Guvinoff:someone in the UAV industry please invent the DCD (drone catcher drone). follow the target long enough to be properly positionned, and deploy the lasso attached to a small parachute so the intelligence value of the device can be extracted afterwards, on the ground. The trick is to give just the right slant to the lasso, to grab the mid-section of the ship in diagonal, so the parachute is secure.
Robotics have reached the point where this is quite feasible.
Mar 18, 2009 - 10:55 am 5. chicagodudewhotrades:Anyone think Iran will invade the Southern parts of Iraq in a couple years when the USA pulls out? If Iran keeps doing this, that may be a very good indicator of future intentions
Mar 18, 2009 - 11:09 am 6. naftali:#2 Pops
Unfortunately, I think that’s going to be the case with the entire world. This administration is performing Keystone Cops foreign policy. For at least four years, the world will act as though America does not exist. Oh, the leaders of other nations may say otherwise, but mostly because they are also aware of Presidential term limits.
Mar 18, 2009 - 12:37 pm 7. JK:Actually there’s quite a bit of stuff concerning foreign use of UAVs.
http://www.janes.com/news/defence/jdw/jdw081125_1_n.shtml
The photo’d one appears very similar to one Israeli produced, but then a question of “Why?” would seem to be in order.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/israels-spy-dro.html
I recall seeing something about a certain NATO “partner” selling a version of an advanced UAV to Russia prior to that Georgia thing. If only I could remember where I saw it.
Mar 18, 2009 - 1:29 pm 8. DoubleTapper:Now would be a great time to unleash Israel’s Secret Weapon!
It’s all over now!
DoubleTapper
Mar 18, 2009 - 2:15 pm 9. Chuck Pelto:DoubleTapper@gmail.com
DoubleTapper, blogging on Guns Politics Defense from Israel
TO: Annie Jacobson, et al.
RE: Heh
Bring the idiots on. We can make the famous ‘Highway of Death’ from GW I look like a valet parking at a rock concert.
As for the Iranian intentions, I think they’re stupid enough to try to attack US in Iraq if Israel takes out their nuclear weapons program.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. The BIG question is, ‘Why do they hate US if Obama has been elected President of the United States?’
I thought everyone in the world would ‘love’ US. All the people who voted for Obama told me they would. Did they ‘lie’ to me?
Mar 18, 2009 - 6:56 pm 10. fred:I cannot believe that the persons controlling the drone did not know that it was flying deep into Iraq. Utter b.s. I refuse to believe that the Iranian controlling its flight was geographically an idiot and a computer no-mind. Not going to happen. This was a probe. Most likely it was a test to see what our capabilities are.
I’m sure what really caught Iran’s attention was the non-confrontational language from Iraqi and our officials. I think that they have our leadership’s psychological profile pretty well in hand.
Mar 18, 2009 - 7:20 pm 11. Frank:Iraq will become bum buddies with Iran, Afghanistan will become bum buddies with Pakistan and the Taliban, especially now that Obama is in charge, yet again we strengthen our enemies
Mar 18, 2009 - 10:08 pm 12. typos_R_us:“It’s most likely that its entrance (into Iraq) was a mistake.”
Absolutely. As to whether it was intentional (a wrong mistake) or not is another issue. It doesn’t make any sense. Of course, what is irrational to a westerner might make perfect sense to a Mad Dog Mullah (hereafter MDM).
Mar 19, 2009 - 2:57 am 13. typos_R_us:From ta military POV, the Russians can’t build drones that are good for anything except spotting targets for artillery. The Drone was beyond the range of any Iranian artillery.
Were they trying to intimidate someone? Russian drones don’t carry anything like the Hellfire or the Spike. Russians don’t have any weapons like JADAMS or JSOW to mount on a drone. All they have are cameras.
It sounds like the MDM is upset by all the US drones flying over Iran, looking at the camps where the Quds Force is training terrorists.
Bush never had the ‘nads to turn the Cylons loose on the MDM, but maybe the Usurper has.
After all, the Usurper had the sand to steal the entire United States of America. That takes brass ones the size of basketballs. Everybody is mad at Madoff, and he just conned a few thousand people out of a few million dollars. The Usurper has conned a few hundred million people out of an entire nation. I guess Al Capone was correct when he said if you break the law, make it worthwhile. Big Al made his mark in Chicago, just like someone else we know.
Professor Givenoff
Unnecessary, if we want to inspect a Russian drone, we can just buy one. Much more cost effective.
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=267.0
The problem with stealing tech instead of developing your own is that when a paradigm shift comes along, you are left on the outside looking in. The Russians and the Chi-coms will have to wait until the technology is mature then try and steal it.
Mar 19, 2009 - 3:50 am 14. Watcher:That won’t be very effective in some areas, since something like stealth consists of hundreds of interlocking technologies that have to be stolen individually.
The bottleneck for UAV’s is the engine technology. That in turn depends on manufacturing a small, powerful, jet engine.
The Euros are close behind the USA in that field and the Sov….er, Russians are trying to steal or buy the tech from them. What they are doing in the meantime is equipping small, commuter size aircraft with remote controls. Very easy to detect and shoot down.
Getting as far as it did is a reflection on the C&C link. It took a while for somebody with stars to get up off their fat arse and make a decision.
Iran could shoot down some of our UAV’s and the might have already done so. It is harder for them because they don’t have very good radar coverage. A shortage of both technicians and equipment. Not to mention most of their fighter jets are down and they have few pilots.
Reasonable to assume it was a test of some sort for all sorts of purposes, and also reasonable to assume it discovered all sorts of things both military and political.
What the Messiah will do with the possible implications of this we will have to see, but the message attached to this drone wasn’t friendly, that’s for sure. Time for the new guys in town to put their best thinking hats on…
Mar 19, 2009 - 2:52 pm 15. typos_R_us:Here is another slant;
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/articles/20090319.aspx
I’m dubious. Using a drone to scout out smuggling routes sounds like something the USA would do, not the Mad Dog Mullahs. In that part of the world, they would be more likely to bride the border guards. Been doing that for thousands of years and it works well. Especially if you know where the border guard lives and can deliver a head shot to a family member if something goes wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ababil
Mar 19, 2009 - 8:26 pm 16. SAF:It is programmable to go to a waypoint and return. I think somebody put in the wrong waypoint and they didn’t notice until it was to late to change it. So they were hoping it got back within com range to change the way point. After looking at the specs, this would be a good platform for hunting Delta Force or LURPs teams in the mountains of Iran.
The whole thing smells so fishy that there is certain to be more here then meets the eye.
UAV’s don’t just wander around. Why shoot it down? An F-16 going past at Mach 1.2 would tear it apart, which would be a much better way of knocking it down. Bullets ALWAYS fall to earth somewhere. Why take a chance on a 20mm HE shell shredding some 4 year old playing in his back yard, 14,000 feet below you and 2 miles away? Messages are sent in many ways in the Middle East.
Every US enemy is testing Obama. The Russians talk about putting bombers in Cuba and Venezuela. This is Iran’s way.
Mar 21, 2009 - 7:38 am