Lebanese Thinkers: Capture of US Drone Shows Iran’s High Military Capabilities

Iran’s success in capturing an intruding US drone intact displays its remarkable capabilities in military technologies, Lebanese thinkers and intellectuals said Thursday.

The Lebanese thinkers in a meeting with Tehran’s Ambassador to Beirut Qazanfar Roknabadi in Lebanon today reiterated that hunting an advanced US drone by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) shows the “unrivaled ability” of Iranian experts in electronic warfare and struck a heavy blow at the awe of the world Arrogance (i.e. the US).

They also reiterated that the success indicates that Iran has managed to overcome enemies in area of different military technologies despite the sanctions imposed against the country over its nuclear program.

Iran announced Tuesday that it has hunted a new US drone over the country’s airspace.

Commander of the IRGC Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi announced that his forces captured a US ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) over the Persian Gulf after the drone violated the country’s airspace.

The UAV which had conducted several reconnaissance flights over the Persian Gulf general zone in the past few days was caught and brought under control by air defense units and control systems of the IRGC Navy.

ScanEagle is a small, low-cost, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing.

As standard payload ScanEagle carries either an inertially stabilized electro-optical or an infrared camera. The gimbaled camera allows the operator to easily track both stationary and moving targets, providing real-time intelligence.

Capable of flying above 16,000 feet, the UAV has also demonstrated the ability to provide persistent low-altitude reconnaissance.

The development came exactly a year after Iran announced on December 4, 2011 that its defense forces had downed a US RQ-170 drone through a sophisticated cyber attack.