Special to WorldTribune.com
NICOSIA — Iran said it shot down an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle on its way to the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the intercepted Israeli UAV was a radar-evading, stealth platform called Hermes-450. The UAV was said to have been shot down by air defense systems near Natanz, 240 kilometers south of Teheran, but parts of the platform remained intact.
“The operational range of the drone indicates it did not start its flight in Israel, but departed from a country in the region,” IRGC Air Force commander Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said. “We have some clues.”
IRGC said the Israeli reconnaissance UAV was shot down on Aug. 24. Commanders said IRGC determined that Hermes, with a 5.5-meter wing span and two cameras, contained an operational range of 800 kilometers without refueling.
The Hermes-450, delivered to Azerbaijan, Britain and the United States, was reported by Elbit to have a range of 300 kilometers. Footage broadcast on Iranian television did not show markings that identified Israel or Elbit.
“Some parts of this UAV are intact, and we are now analyzing the information and intelligence of these parts,” Hajizadeh said.
Teheran has long reported Israeli UAV operations inside Iran. But this marked the first time that the Islamist regime displayed the purported Hermes, manufactured by Israel’s Elbit Systems. The Iranian military has downed several U.S. UAVs and later claimed to have acquired their technology.
“There was no prior information available about the [Hermes] aircraft and the only one of this type had been downed in Syria,” Hajizadeh said. “But this one is more advanced.”
The Israel Air Force, which did not respond to Iran’s claim, operates two types of Hermes. The heritage Hermes-450, with a reported endurance of more than 20 hours, has been deployed in high-value reconnaissance operations while the new Hermes-900 was introduced in the Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The -900 was said to contain enhanced endurance, range and payload.
Commanders said components of Hermes were still working. They said IRGC would try to determine software and other codes meant to operate the platform.
“We will respond to the aggressors decisively,” Iranian Defense Minister Hussein Dehqan said. “This is a serious signal that Iran will implement what it says.”
Iran says Israeli drone it downed was headed to Natanz nuclear site added by World Tribune on
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