Iran claims it flew drone over US aircraft carrier, snapped photos

originally posted by: cosmania
This is truly not a big deal. When I was in the gulf, I had the joy of standing the alert, with my RIO, for our aircraft. They called us and told us that we'd likely launch in 2 hours. They continually updated us, that yes, we were going to launch. They didn't tell us why.

Sure enough, the call was made to launch the alert fighter. We got airborne and rolled in behind an Iranian P-3 cruising along at about 1000'. The P-3 passed just in front of, and down the port side of the ship at that altitude with us in trail. I believe they were within 1 mile of the ship during this flight.

These are just games. We won't shoot first because it is provocative and unnecessary. Nor will they. Carrier Ops have been put in the public venue. Those ops are not classified. Daytime cyclical ops will give them almost zero intel. They like to try to beat their chest and show how awesome they are. Whatever.

The best part, was that I had an AIM-9, cued up on his inboard left motor the entire time. Don't think he would have known that. Tee Hee.

Exactly, during peace time in international waters nobody is shooting anything down unless it presents a threat to the ship or its air operations. Carrier ops are as public as you can get. In fact that is part of their role in power projection. Come take a look at what you do not want to deal with. If I was Iran I would not want to show that footage to the Iranians because that much power on one ship would be kind of scary.

originally posted by: yuppa
a reply to: haman10

Well Apparently no lock ons were detected otherwise it would had been a puff of smoke over th e international waters of th e persian gulf. remember just because it says persian does no t mean it is owned by Iran(excluding territorial waters of course)

well actually if u took time to look at the video u could see that there is a lock on. Fact is that these drones don't use radars to lock on their target. They use FLIR systems and their locks cannot be detected.

So much for your rhetoric. And i never said PG is owned by Iran. That's why we're planning on having a naval base in the Atlantic Ocean if you know what i mean.

During that time, US will have every right to use drones in order to keep an eye on our ships

a reply to: haman10

FLIR doesn't lock on. The camera locks on, but FLIR has nothing to do with weapons, which is what he was talking about. . It also appears it may have happened during daylight hours, which makes FLIR useless.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: haman10

FLIR doesn't lock on. The camera locks on, but FLIR has nothing to do with weapons, which is what he was talking about. . It also appears it may have happened during daylight hours, which makes FLIR useless.

I don't think that's what he was talking about. He said the reason why the drone is not shot down is because it didn't lock on the ship.
And i said it's impossible to verify that since they don't use radars.
Also i didn't know that FLIRs don't lock on the target and the cameras do. Thanks for the info

a reply to: haman10

He meant weapons lock. The ROE doesn't care if a camera is locked on, but if weapons are locked on then the posture changes and they're ready to shoot and may.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: haman10

He meant weapons lock. The ROE doesn't care if a camera is locked on, but if weapons are locked on then the posture changes and they're ready to shoot and may.

The weapon is camera guided . it has a camera of its own on its tip .

Again ,the question is how would they detect a weapons lock ?

a reply to: haman10

It doesn't matter because they visually identified IR as unarmed.

originally posted by: haman10

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: haman10

FLIR doesn't lock on. The camera locks on, but FLIR has nothing to do with weapons, which is what he was talking about. . It also appears it may have happened during daylight hours, which makes FLIR useless.

I don't think that's what he was talking about. He said the reason why the drone is not shot down is because it didn't lock on the ship.
And i said it's impossible to verify that since they don't use radars.
Also i didn't know that FLIRs don't lock on the target and the cameras do. Thanks for the info

It was not shot down because when it was inspected by Navy Helicopter it was found to be unarmed and the carrier was not conducting flight operation at the time. So it posed no threat. Granted in wartime it would just have been splashed no matter if it was armed or not.

a reply to: haman10

Zaphod answered the question fo rme it seems. I did means WEAPONS LOCK not a CAMERA/FLIR. Also I dont think Iran has drones carrying a equivilant to a hellfire do they?

Point is it was verified to no tbe a threat so thats the only reason it was not splashed. Also its not rhetoric to state a fact that with exception to Iranian territorial waters they do not own th e persian gulf.

originally posted by: MrSpad

originally posted by: haman10

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: haman10

FLIR doesn't lock on. The camera locks on, but FLIR has nothing to do with weapons, which is what he was talking about. . It also appears it may have happened during daylight hours, which makes FLIR useless.

I don't think that's what he was talking about. He said the reason why the drone is not shot down is because it didn't lock on the ship.
And i said it's impossible to verify that since they don't use radars.
Also i didn't know that FLIRs don't lock on the target and the cameras do. Thanks for the info

It was not shot down because when it was inspected by Navy Helicopter it was found to be unarmed and the carrier was not conducting flight operation at the time. So it posed no threat. Granted in wartime it would just have been splashed no matter if it was armed or not.

Well as a matter of fact it was an armed UCAV, not an un-armed one .
if we falsely assume this was not the case and the drone was un-armed ,still , hypothetically speaking, US wouldn't dare shooting down an Iranian armed-drone . it's against all international regulations and its a declaration of war .

What Iran will do next is apparent : they'll start shooting down US drones over International waters like flies in the air ===>further escalation =====> US retaliation =====> WAR .

Also as i said earlier, Ayub flew tens of kilometers inside the most secret parts of Israel and around its fiercely protected nuclear sites and it was detected then . point being : these drones are hard to detect . they are made of composite material and have very low RCS .

there comes the question : where they really detected at the proper time ?

all we know is that the previous time an Iranian drone buzzed a US carrier, they started scrambling jets when the drone was already on the way home .

originally posted by: haman10

originally posted by: MrSpad

originally posted by: haman10

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: haman10

FLIR doesn't lock on. The camera locks on, but FLIR has nothing to do with weapons, which is what he was talking about. . It also appears it may have happened during daylight hours, which makes FLIR useless.

I don't think that's what he was talking about. He said the reason why the drone is not shot down is because it didn't lock on the ship.
And i said it's impossible to verify that since they don't use radars.
Also i didn't know that FLIRs don't lock on the target and the cameras do. Thanks for the info

It was not shot down because when it was inspected by Navy Helicopter it was found to be unarmed and the carrier was not conducting flight operation at the time. So it posed no threat. Granted in wartime it would just have been splashed no matter if it was armed or not.

Well as a matter of fact it was an armed UCAV, not an un-armed one .
if we falsely assume this was not the case and the drone was un-armed ,still , hypothetically speaking, US wouldn't dare shooting down an Iranian armed-drone . it's against all international regulations and its a declaration of war .

If the drone was armed they would have known it. Just because the drone wasn't shot down doesn't mean it wasn't targeted with every tracking system available.

I wouldn't doubt the US actually has better footage of that drone than the drone does of the carrier.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well, the FLIR can "kind of" lock on. Most FLIR systems can be GPS stabilized for ground objects and thus "lock on" a waypoint. Typically this is used to get close to finding your ground target, like a building. Once found, some systems will use a contrast lock to keep the bullseye in the same spot. Consider the hot engine of a tank or truck versus the ground around it. It will have an IR signature with a high contrast different to its local surroundings and the FLIR can track that. Works great in A/A.

youtu.be...


On this video, at the 15:08 mark, you'll see an IR contrast lock on a target. You can see the zone that the FLIR pod is tracking as a constant changing box. Again at 15:20. Then at 15:34, you can see (in the bottom right hand corner) the FLIR pod lock on of the wingman shooting his Phoenie bomb. The pod can track the contrast of the aircraft against the smooth sky background.

Also, it's in the daytime and works great. There would be no indications that this FLIR contrast lock has occurred, and to my knowledge, does not represent a hostile act. At least, that's what I know about the LANTIRN pod.

a reply to: cosmania

It will, but not in the way meant there.