Iranian Drone Was First to Conduct Flight Over U.S. Carrier Since 2014
- 8 years ago
An Iranian drone that flew over a U.S. aircraft carrier last month was the first to conduct an overflight of an American carrier since 2014, according to a U.S. Navy report obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The January 12 reconnaissance flight by the Iranian Shahed drone was the latest in a series of tense naval encounters between forces of the Islamic Republic and the U.S. Navy , including the brief detention of 10 American sailors who strayed into Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.
An internal U.S. Navy report on the incident, obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information Act request, said it happened as the USS Harry S. Truman and the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle were 89 nautical miles southwest of the Iranian port of Bushehr.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard is using similar Shahed-129 drones as ground support to forces fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad in Syria, the semi-official Fars news agency reported last week.
The January 12 reconnaissance flight by the Iranian Shahed drone was the latest in a series of tense naval encounters between forces of the Islamic Republic and the U.S. Navy , including the brief detention of 10 American sailors who strayed into Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.
An internal U.S. Navy report on the incident, obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information Act request, said it happened as the USS Harry S. Truman and the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle were 89 nautical miles southwest of the Iranian port of Bushehr.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard is using similar Shahed-129 drones as ground support to forces fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad in Syria, the semi-official Fars news agency reported last week.