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IRGC exhibits the wreckage of the downed drone

IRGC general says Iran warned U.S. drone several times before shootdown

21 Jun 2019 - 15:19

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the aerospace unit of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, said on Friday that the U.S. drone had received warnings for four times before being shot down.


“Those who guided the drone received the warnings but did not care. Given that the drone breached Iran’s airspace, the aerospace unit of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps shot it down,” he said in an exhibition held in Tehran to showcase the drone’s wreckage.
“Two warnings were issued on 2:05 on Thursday morning and two others were issued on 3:55 and the drone was shot on 4:05. In fact, four warnings were given to this drone but they did not pay attention. Another spy plane was also flying near this drone which carried 35 crew members and we had the right to shoot that down, however, we shot down the unmanned drone,” he explained.
He noted that the U.S. lost one of its most sophisticated and expensive spy aircrafts.
He added, “Defending national security and territorial integrity and also the people of Iran is our red line.” 
The IRGC announced on Thursday that the U.S. Global Hawk surveillance drone was shot down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region in the central district of Jask after the aircraft violated Iran’s airspace.
The RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) can fly at high altitudes for more than 30 hours, gathering near-real-time, high-resolution imagery of large areas of land in all types of weather, according to the Fars news agency.
The IRGC issued a second statement on Thursday disclosing details about the downing of the drone near the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that the unmanned aircraft was targeted after it violated Iran's airspace over the southern coasts.
“The Global Hawk spy drone took off from one of the U.S. forces’ bases south of the Persian Gulf at 00:14 am today and turned off all its Identification (Identification Friend or Foe) equipment and continued flight from the Strait of Hormuz to Chabahar port in a full stealth mode,” the statement said, according to Fars.
“The drone started collecting intelligence in a spying operation when it was returning towards the western parts of the region near the Strait of Hormuz and it violated the airspace over the Islamic Republic of Iran's territory,” it added.
“The Guard’s Aerospace Force’s air defense system targeted and destroyed the hostile aircraft which had entered Iran’s territorial airspace at 04:05 am,” the statement said.


Story Code: 2375

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