Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Iran has claimed the interception of Israeli-origin as well as western
unmanned aerial vehicles.

A senior military official said Iran has downed several Israeli UAVs
since 2004. The unidentified official told Iran’s Fars News Agency that the
interceptions took place over the Gulf.

Officials said Iran has developed the capability of downing Western UAVs without damaging the platforms. They cited the use of electronic jammers that severed the data link between the UAVs and their headquarters.

“There have even been UAVs belonging to the occupying Zionist regime [Israel], the United States and Britain which have been shot down in the Persian Gulf during the past seven years,” the official said.

“We have, thus far, shot down a large number of their highly advanced spy planes,” Brig. Gen. Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the air force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said.

Hajizadeh said IRGC captured the Western UAVs and took them apart for reverse-engineering. He said IRGC adopted the capabilities of the Israeli and Western UAVs into Iran’s indigenous platforms.

The statement was made on Dec. 5 in wake of Iran’s interception of an
advanced U.S.-origin UAV near the border with Afghanistan. The Teheran
regime broadcast footage of the stealth RQ-170 Sentinel, which appeared
intact.

“Since the high-technology UAV was downed, Americans have been seriously
worried about the intelligence inside its systems,” Iranian parliamentarian
Hussein Naqavi said. “But they should know that the Islamic republic of Iran will
decode the intelligence and data existing in the UAV systems by means of its
highly-advanced technology.”

Iran has asserted that it achieved stealth aircraft capability. In 2010,
officials said, Iran produced an attack UAV designed to evade radar.

At the same time, Iran produced its first long-range UAV, called Karar,
said to fly 1,000 kilometers. The Defense Ministry also inaugurated the
production line of two indigenous UAVs, Raad and Nazir.

“Recently, Iran has achieved good progress in the aerospace industry and
has succeeded in gaining the technical know-how to produce stealth aircraft
and UAVs,” Fars said.

  Brig. Gen. Ali Hajizadeh, Hussein Naqavi, Iran claims it captured, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Israeli drones since 2004, Karar, Persian Gulf, reverse-engineered several U.S., RQ-170 Sentinel, Western drones since 2004