U.S. F-22 stealth fighter pilot taunted Iranian F-4 Phantom combat planes

[Surenas]

Gambit, an Mq-9 sensor operator said that everyone at Creech laughed at the fact that people believed that Iran 'hacked' the Sentinel.

Yet Iran has two US drones intact in their possession. Without almost having a scratch. I pity the dumb fools in your army.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

Earlier this year, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little, said that an IRIAF (Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force) F-4 Phantom combat plane attempted to intercept a U.S. MQ-1 drone flying in international airspace off Iran. As we reported back then, one of the two F-4 Phantom jets came to about 16 miles from the UAV but broke off pursuit after they were broadcast a warning message by two American planes escorting the Predator. The episode happened in March 2013, few months after a two Sukhoi Su-25 attack planes operated by the Pasdaran (informal name of the IRGC – the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution) attempted to shoot down an American MQ-1 flying a routine surveillance flight in international airspace some 16 miles off Iran, the interception of the unmanned aircraft failed. After this attempted interception the Pentagon decided to escort the drones involved in ISR (intelligence surveillance reconnaissance) missions with fighter jets (either F-18 Hornets with the CVW 9 embarked on the USS John C. Stennis whose Carrier Strike Group is currently in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility or F-22 Raptors like those deployed to Al Dhafra in the UAE. New details about the episode were recently disclosed by Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh who on Sept. 17 not only confirmed that the fighter jets providing HVAAE (High Value Air Asset Escort) were F-22 stealth fighters but also said that: “He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said ‘you really ought to go home’”

If the episode went exactly as Welsh described it, it was something more similar to Maverick’s close encouter with Russian Mig-28s in Top Gun movie than a standard interception.

It would be interesting to know how the Raptor managed to remain stealth (did they use their radar? were they vectored by an AWACS? etc.) and why it was not the E-2 most probably providing Airborne Early Warning in the area to broadcast the message to persuade the F-4 to pursuit the drone before the Iranian Phantoms and the U.S. Raptors got too close in a potentially dangerous and tense situation? Anyway the U.S. pilot achieved to scare the Iranian pilots off and save the drone. A happy ending worthy of an action movie.

More of a story then reality.

 

[gambit]

Gambit, an Mq-9 sensor operator said that everyone at Creech laughed at the fact that people believed that Iran 'hacked' the Sentinel.

My friends here in LV (Nellis) laughed too. And they laughed hard. The USAF does not care. Those in the know, the technical people and the budget masters, do not care as well. No matter what the Iranians may say to make themselves feel better have no effects on how much money is allocated for the program and how to progress the machines. In the end, the US wins.

 

[gambit]

Forget everything now think US has come that low that it has to protect a UAV with an escort by F-22 and F-18, the stupidity.

This is how shortsighted and limited thinking you really are.

Back in the Cold War, we developed 'provocative' flight profiles. Do you know what 'provocative' mean? It can mean anything from passive SIGINT to actually induce physical response by the Soviets such as them sending up interceptors, while we observe and record their behaviors and response time. You think the Soviets do not do the same to US? How about those Bear bombers off the Alaskan coasts? Today, we do the same except most of our focus is in Asia, as in China.

So what make you think we did not use drones to provoke a physical response from the Iranian military?

Yeah...You go right on believing we are 'stupid'. Funny how you think that when your Pakistan cannot do even 1/10th of what we can do, have done, and have in the works.

 

[gambit]

Yet Iran has two US drones intact in their possession. Without almost having a scratch. I pity the dumb fools in your army.

And I pity the fools, if any, in the Iranian military when they believe they 'hacked' those things.

 

[gambit]

Still whining about the fact that Iran has managed to capture a US drone intact? And not once, but many times. Hacking is the most logical explanation. Unlike these Tom Clancy stories about the mighty US air force taunting Iranian pilots.

Buddy, if only you know how much we violate Iranian airspace, your head will explode. We went into Pakistan to take out Osama bin Laden. You think we are scared of an air force that relies on Photochopped images to make itself feel good?

 

[SOHEIL]

Buddy, if only you know how much we violate Iranian airspace, your head will explode. We went into Pakistan to take out Osama bin Laden. You think we are scared of an air force that relies on Photochopped images to make itself feel good?

Yes, you are right ( if it make you a good feeling )

Everything from Gen. gambit is right ... because he is an old vietnamese from the land of pride (!)

 

[MehrotraPrince]

This is news to me!!

I thought most humans follow the logic of escorting Expensive Things/Life with less Expensive Things/Life. Just like Commandos escort VIP's since their own life is considered politically less important than Politicians/VIP person or Destroyers/Frigates/Submarines escorting Aircraft Carriers........ or the world order and common logic has changed?

"F-4 tried to intercept a drone to check their load and in reply F-22 Intercepted it and checked its load and that too visually by flying under its wing" Wow amazing story!!

 

[SOHEIL]

And I pity the fools, if any, in the Iranian military when they believe they 'hacked' those things.

Yes, we can't ( gambit had a multiple orgasm right now ! )

there is no problem ... hacked or not ... we have your stuff

 

[SOHEIL]

In the end, the US wins.

Ya !

 

[gambit]

Yes, you are right ( if it make you a good feeling )

Everything from Gen. gambit is right ... because he is an old vietnamese from the land of pride (!)

Of course I am. Do you really think that we made only one or a few drone recon missions over Iran, we who violated Soviet airspace with the U-2 and SR-71 during the Cold War?

 

[OrionHunter]

OMG..just read the lines

“He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said ‘you really ought to go home’”

And the Iranians were so taken aback seeing this new weapon that they froze in fright!

 

[SOHEIL]

Of course I am. Do you really think that we made only one or a few drone recon missions over Iran, we who violated Soviet airspace with the U-2 and SR-71 during the Cold War?

Do you know how many drones grounded by Iran !?

No

We are not in the cold war & Iran isn't the soviet union ...

I can't change your mind ... Enjoy american dream !

 

[Surenas]

Buddy, if only you know how much we violate Iranian airspace, your head will explode. We went into Pakistan to take out Osama bin Laden. You think we are scared of an air force that relies on Photochopped images to make itself feel good?

Yet Iran is miraculously the only country that has managed to capture two US drones. And one of the drones is even one of the most sophisticated drones the US has in its drone fleet. Nobody was talking about being scared of the Iranian Air Force. We were talking about cyber warfare, a part of warfare in which Iran has made great steps. If even the CEO of Google states that he wouldn't be surprised if the Iranians managed to capture that drone, I don't really think that a bunch of laughing soldiers in your army are worth mentioning.

Executive chairman of Google , Eric Schmidt : Don't underestimate the Iranians - YouTube

 

[Esc8781]

My friends here in LV (Nellis) laughed too. And they laughed hard. The USAF does not care. Those in the know, the technical people and the budget masters, do not care as well. No matter what the Iranians may say to make themselves feel better have no effects on how much money is allocated for the program and how to progress the machines. In the end, the US wins.

You know that video Iran claimed that they hacked the UAV (when it was landing at Kandahar)? That was a skygrabbed video feed. UAVs transmissions are unencrypted when landing and taking off and they're in C-band. A guy in the Taliban can do that. What kind of RPA saves video onto its hard drive? It's saved in the GCS. Looks like Iran is as technical as the Taliban.