Iran Says More Hostile Planes Shooed Away in Recent Years

(FNA)- Iran's technical and tactical military progress in different fields has enabled it to trace and shoo away an increasing number of hostile fighter jets and drones in recent years, Lieutenant Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard declared on Sunday.

"In the last three years, the Air Defense Base's tactical measures have increased compared to the past," Sabahifard said in Tehran today.

"In autumn 1392 (September-December, 2013), the tactical measures taken and the warnings issued to alien fighters were ten-folded compared to the same period in 1389 (autumn of 2010)," he added.

In relevant remarks in February, Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli announced that Iran has shooed away the US drones from its borders and territorial waters on numerous occassions.

“We have issued warnings to many of their (the US) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) which are controlled by either their land bases like the one in a neighboring country or from warships - although the drone itself is flying over free waters - and we warn the drone (controllers) right at that point that they shouldn’t be seen and traced, and their bases comply with our warnings and move away their drone from that region," Gen. Esmayeeli told FNA.

Elaborating on why the US controllers comply so fast with Iran's warnings, he reminded that UAVs are expensive instruments and Washington does not want to lose them, implying that Iran would shoot down any hostile aircraft if it does not comply with its warnings.

The commander of Iran's Air Defense Force said when Iran warns the RQ-4 and MQ-1 drones, they withdraw from the region immediately, because these aircraft are seen as prestigious military weapons and are of national importance to the US which does not want to meet its objectives at a very high cost.

In similar remarks in October 2012, Esmayeeli had stressed Iran's capability to confront US spy planes and drones, and said his forces had warned tens of US spy planes, including the advanced Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, to keep away from Iranian airspace.

"In the last ten years, we have issued countless warnings even to those US AWACS airplanes which were flying over Iraq's airspace or along the free airspace of the Persian Gulf," Esmayeeli told FNA at the time, and noted that the spy planes received immediate warnings when they tried to approach Iran's airspace in violation of the international regulations.

Also in March 2013, the Iranian commander said that his forces had shooed away a US U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane seeking to approach the Iranian airspace on February 10, when Iranians were celebrating the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

Esmayeeli said his forces pursue and fulfill four missions, which include discovering, indentifying and detecting aggressive aircraft using 3,600 air defense stations and points which are working under an integrated air-defense system.

He then pointed to the year-long achievements of his forces in 2012, and said that the air-defense units had managed to "detect, identify and trace a U-2 aircraft which uses various types of hi-tech for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering missions".

"At around midday on Bahman 22 (February 10, 2012 - when Iranians take part in annual rallies to mark the anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution), a U-2 reconnaissance radar-evading aircraft received our warning signal over the international waters in the Sea of Oman before it could approach Iran's borders," Esmayeeli said, adding that the U-2 plane complied with Iranians' orders and moved away from Iran's airspace.

The commander said that the plane might have intended to take images and gather intelligence over Iran's Southern regions.

The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, very high-altitude (70,000 feet/21,000 m), all-weather intelligence gathering. The U-2 has also been used for electronic sensor research, satellite calibration, and communications purposes.

It has participated in conflicts such as Afghanistan and Iraq, and supported several multinational NATO operations. The role of the U-2 is increasingly performed by alternative platforms, such as surveillance satellites, unmanned reconnaissance drones and conventional aircraft.