A year after, IRGC reveals new details about the downing of the US drone

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) of Iran reveals new details about the downing of the US unmanned drone last year marking the first anniversary.

The Fars Agency has published new information about this operation carried out by the IRGC downing of the American MQ-4C plane by an Iranian missile, According to new information, MQ-4C which took off from the Al Dhafra base in the UAE have a P-8 naval patrol aircraft and MQ-9 drones present during the downing. 

The Iranian agency added that the manned plane P-8 was also 17 km away when the MQ-4C was shot down, and the other airliner (MQ-9) was about 17 km from the P-8.

After take off, the MQ-4C flew towards the Strait of Hormuz and then reportedly violated Iranian airspace before continuing towards southeastern Iran.

The Iranian air defense forces then tracked the U.S. drone at a distance of 490 km before Tehran signaled for it to be shot down. The Fars News report stressed that their radar can detect more than 200 targets with three dimensions over a distance of 500 km, and it was made by Iranian specialists “in the Ministry of Defense and the support of the armed forces.”

After the MQ-4C violated the Iranian air border area, the mission of targeting it in the area between the city of Jask and Jabal Mubarak was determined with two air defense systems.

The defense system radar detected this target at an altitude of 12 km, and it was flying at a speed of 700 km / hour and at a distance of 169 km.

The missile was launched from a distance of 90 km, when the plane was at an altitude of 14 km, and hit the target at a distance of 75 km in Iranian territorial waters.

The Fars reported added that after the downing of the drone and despite the threats of American officials, especially President Donald Trump, “there was no offensive movement by America three days following the incident.”

The incident occurred nearly resulted in an armed confrontation as Trump ordered a military strike against IRGC radar and missile sites before reversing the decision. Instead, the U.S. retaliated with cyber attacks on the IRGC's missile-control systems (which Iran says were firewalled), announced new sanctions against several important Iranians, and requested a closed-door UN Security Council meeting to address the regional tensions.

The United States has been flying surveillance drones in support of maritime security and to spy on Iran for many years. To abide by international law, such flights must take place in international airspace. Aside from the frequent legal reconnaissance flights, Iran has protested what it alleges are violations of its sovereign air space.