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| US ScanEagle drone captured by Iran |
Tehran : Iran has claimed that it has captured US ScanEagle drone over the Persian Gulf waters upon its intrusion into the Iranian airspace.
The announcement was made by IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi on Tuesday, claiming that the Iranian armed forces enjoy full intelligence command over foreign movements in the Persian Gulf region as quoted PressTV of Iran.
“Such drones are usually launched from large aircraft carriers" said the commander.
The ScanEagle drone, which has a 10ft (3m) wingspan, is a long-endurance aircraft built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing.
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| RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone captured by Iran in Dec, 2011 |
Washington has stepped up its spying operations on Bushehr nuclear plant in southern Iran "over the past two months", a report cited in Washington Post claimed.
It further said that the increased spying missions by the US on the Iranian nuclear facility "has been conducted in part with the Pentagon's fleet of drones operating over the Persian Gulf."
The Iranian military also grounded a US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft while it was flying over the Iranian city of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225km) from the Afghan border in December 2011.
The US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft was downed with minimal damage by the Iranian Army's electronic warfare unit. The drone was one of America's most advanced spy aircraft.