Well, they don't track a kid's remote controlled toy plane.

Good point Nygdan.

Modern hobby type R/C (Radio Control) aircraft could be easily set up to have a fairly long range capability.
Their balsa wood, plastic and foam construction would have a fairly small radar cross section.

Visual identification could be tough as well considering the small size of these aircraft.
Small being defined as a four to ten foot wingspan aircraft.

Hobbyist R/C pilots don't let their airplanes get too far out due to they will get lost in the background visually speaking.
About a quarter mile is it for the smaller ones and maybe a half mile for the larger ones.
Some of these small aircraft are pretty fast, part due to aircraft design, engine choice and the intended use.
Others are very slow and much like a sailplane (called glider by some) and it doesn't take much horsepower - which equates to fuel savings - to maintain flight.

Model aircraft engines from a few years back were of two-stroke/glow plug ignition design with an alcohol based fuel.
Two-strokes are known for their poor MPG capabilities.

Nowadays there are four stroke engines available and MPG is much improved.
Some of these have spark ignition systems with a standard - albeit small - spark plug and many of them run on gasoline which improves the MPG factor even more.

My guess is, if the Iranian drone actually existed it's not much more than a hobby type R/C plane.

More than likely, it's just feel-good propaganda for the Iranian populace and there's nothing flying over any carrier group other than seabirds....

(Excess word edited out.)

[edit on 1-6-2006 by Desert Dawg]

maybe it was a hi-tech muslim boomerang

in all reality, the world has not seen for some 50+ years the unleashing of the totality of the U.S. arsenal......what they have seen is limited, surgical, warfaring operations.

or, maybe there was an rc competition in persia???

I'm not actually suggesting its really a hobbiest style toy. But lets not also say that its a "UAV" like a predator drone or something.

Most likely this "drone" was a model plane with a disposible camera on the front.

No worries here. They can't match the US's air power.

I tend to not give the story any credibility based on one simple fact: the US Navy, as a general (but not absolute) rule, does not allow fleet aircraft carriers to enter the actual Persian Gulf. Air operations needed for the PG can be safely done from the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman, if necessary. Rarely do the carriers actually venture into the PG itself, unless they are actually conducting military air sorties.

Perhaps the Iraninas will release some video or stills of the carrier to back up their claims?

Point of order here please. Many UAV's have a very, very small radar signature if any unless they are armed. An unarmed UAV the size of a Cesna would show up like a flock of birds..............

Do not underestimate the technology of the people that invented "chess"..............

[edit on 1-6-2006 by thermopolis]

I think that this story is total BS......there would not be a need to scramble fighter planes to intercept any drone......there are always a few fighter planes over any aircraft carrier battle group flying CAP. That it would be necessary to report that fighters were scrambled gives me the impression that this report was a ruse.

Why would an russian news site be the only one reporting this? Imo it has no credibility. I doubt Iran actually would want to give away such info if they did manage to do it.

Originally posted by skippytjc
Think about this people:

The USA has the ability to monitor 100% of all air traffic in the USA 24/7, there is not one plane in the sky that is not tracked and noted, ever.

Exccept on one day when FOUR planes managed to escape detection for what, almost an hour?

I'm not that big on consistency, but I think this is one of those times when it's actually important.

Maybe the fact it is only reported from a Russian media source has something to do with things?

How good is this source? Is it the Russian version of Al-Jazzerra?

Its sounds too far fetched for me to honestly believe the US were not switched on enough to notice this for 25 minutes.

Ngyden

Never under-estimate your enemies' capabilities.
A possible scenario:
hundreds of small remote controlled planes packed with 20~30 kg HE fly over the carrier undetected and bomb the hell out o the carrier. Good Luck

Keep It Real

Originally posted by proprog
hundreds of small remote controlled planes packed with 20~30 kg HE fly over the carrier undetected and bomb the hell out o the carrier.

And when the entire battle fleet starts shooting them down, and causing the explosives to detonate in mid-air, what exactly was accomplished??? The drone was detected. It was far enough away that it was able to re-enter iranian airspace before sonic jets could reach it. That seems to mean it can be detected from a great distance. And since this war will start with a cavalcade of US airstrikes, what makes anyone really think that they're going to have the ability to take these things out of hiding, ready them, launch them, control them, and release the bombs? Its possible, sure, anything's possible. They might have a mini-sub with a nuke in it, and that might get through, sure, anythings possible.

And I wouldn't under-estimate the Iranians, they're fierce. They don't, ultimately, stand a chance, but they're not going to be put down with out a fight.

At least two prototypes have successfully been flown.

Wow, good for them, a whole two stealth boats. Why, there's no way that anything with the word 'stealth' attached to it can be seen right? They'll totally grind the invasion to a standstill with their mighty two boats and RC planes.

Originally posted by Nygdan
Well, they don't track a kid's remote controlled toy plane.

I don't see why its immpossible that the iranians have some thing that could fly over, at who knows what height, an aircraft carrier.

I thought about that, but no kids remote controlled airplane could have the range required to get out there, any drone able to actually get there, would also need to be large enough to have cameras and GPS (or some other guidance) for navigation. All of a sudden its not a kids plane anymore. Not to mention model remote controlled planes, even the ultra high end ones, dont have the kind of altitude that would alow them to be un noticed.

This whole story is absurd. If any of you believe this for half a second, I have a bridge to sell you.

[edit on 1-6-2006 by skippytjc]

And of course that threat will be irrelevant when the command and control centers are hit with MOABs and Bunker-Busters in a decapitation attack.

That statement tells me you know little of actual warfare, sure bunker busting GBU-24/27/31's will be used but MOABs? I don't think so, a FAE (Fuel Air Explosive) would be sufficient, why pull in a big and vunerable C-130 aircraft in there if the job can be done by a swift attack of Strike Eagle?

I do doubt this claim as well but honestly these sailors aren't even EXPECTING aircraft, Iraq has no aircraft, Iran is not crazy enough to do a first strike (or atleast so do the sailors think) so it is somewhat plausible, but still unlikely and a big embarassment for the US Navy if true.

But I think the western media would have picked up on this if it really was true though.

Originally posted by proprog
I'm afraid, once the shooting starts, every US ship will be exposed and vulnerable. When the Iranians spring the trap, the entire lake will become a killing field.
btw, why did americans deploy 4 fighters & 2 helis to intercept a UAV? was it a show of force after their radars failed to pick it up?

If any of this seems funny to you, you might want to consider the new strap-on self destruct device marketed for haters of the evil empire (that would be us).

I think this story is completely fabricated. It reminds me of the IRAQ information minister's claims before he disappeared into hiding. Big talk, but when the shooting starts, I doubt there will be much chest thumping and claims of superiority unless they can talk while running fast for cover.

I sincerely hope there is no war, but if push come to shove, I wouldn't count on a unmanned drone as your secret weapon. Just because there is no published reports, don't believe we haven't visited a few Iranian bases up close long before now.

First of all, Iran would need to have a drone that was similar in class to our Predator drone in order to reach one of our carriers parked out in the persian gulf. I doubt that Iran has anything even close to this. Second, even if they did have a drone of this class, unless the Reagan was just sitting in the middle of the Straits of Hormuz, Iran would not be able to just go out and find one of our carriers. Our carrier task groups are supported by systems that would not allow the Iranians to locate one of our carriers using radar. We have systems that would paint the Iranian's radar scopes with multiple carriers. They would not know which blip was real.

Whoever did the original posting of this "story" should at least watch the History channel, Discovery, or TLC. Also, some people actually seemed to like the idea of Iran taking out one of our carriers. If Iran, or any country, ever sunk one of our carriers, I would bet my bottom dollar that the nation who did the sinking would be nuked immediately. It would be WW3 and even though a lot of Americans would die, America itself would go on. Americans are like roaches.

YAY, even if Iran got this UAV over a flight deck it probably wasnt much of a threat. They can send over their fleet of RC planes and stealth flying boats. The US I'm sure would be happy to send over their fleet of Predators armed with hellfire missiles and our own hovering boats.