An Iranian navy plane that approached a U.S. aircraft carrier last week was flying as low as 300 feet as it neared the USS Eisenhower, U.S. military officials said Wednesday.
The incident, first reported by CNN on Tuesday, came as Iran was beginning a series of military exercises last week meant to show off their military prowess.
The Eisenhower was on duty in the Gulf of Oman in the northern Arabian Sea, in support of the Afghanistan war efforts, when the Iranian maritime patrol aircraft flew within 1,000 yards of the vessel, according to military officials.
While the encounter was not threatening, it was unusual. U.S. navy ships have regularly encountered Iranian aircraft in the Persian Gulf in recent years, but this encounter took place in the Gulf of Oman, in an area where Iranian jets are seen much less frequently, several Navy officials said.
The officials declined to be identified, citing the extremely sensitive nature of any U.S. military interaction with Iranian forces.
Radar on the Eisenhower and other U.S. ships in the vicinity closely tracked the Iranian aircraft as it approached the aircraft carrier to ensure it maintained a nonthreatening path, Roughead said. A senior U.S. military official said the Iranian plane was tracked by U.S. units for nearly 100 miles before it reached the Eisenhower.
The Iranian aircraft was a Fokker F27 that was unarmed, officials said. It remained in the vicinity of the Eisenhower for about 20 minutes before leaving the area, according to the senior official. The Eisenhower had just finished a series of carrier aircraft flight operations and a resupply at sea mission.
U.S. officials believe the Iranians wanted a close look at the carrier, but they could not say if the Iranians took photos of the ship.
(Read More: CNN)
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9 Responses
While we sleep Iran prepares for war. I don’t like this one bit!
This actually shows the technological contrast between the US and Iran. Iran needs to send a plane to get a visual for reconnaissance.
The US can simply zoom in with a spy satellite and take video and pictures.
The US Army is obviously not sleeping, either.
Above all, however, Heenai lo yanum vilo yeeshan Shomer Yisrael.
#3 – actually, the Army is much less involved than the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force are. These will be the primary forces in a war with Iran – as usual during overseas wars, because of their higher mobility.
It’s annoying to see people confuse the word ‘military’ or ‘armed forces’ with the word ‘Army’. Israelis do this all the time. The Army is one specific part of the military, equal to the Navy, Air Force, and depending on the country other units such as the Marine Corps or Coast Guard in the US and the Border Police in Israel (though some of these are only partially under control of the Ministry/Department of Defense).
HaKatan:
I love how people quote that pasuk as though it says anything. We had a Holocaust. Yes certainly those who survived were saved by Hashem who was shomer over them. So how does that pasuk help us when Ahmadinenazi wants to wipe Israel off the map? We need to merit Hashems shemirah.
I wonder if H-sh-m is still watching over this country since the liberals now have the power to ruin the economy and turn us into a bananna republic, which they are doing as fast as they possibly can.
The Navy should have sent up fighter aircraft as larger show of force. This pres is weaker then Carter was.
#4 as I understand it now the Coast Guard is under Homeland Security. Which is just another joke of this current Administration.
Daniel Breslauer,
CHILL!
hereorthere,
thank you for your bit of k’fira. as for the rest of us, we believe that HKBH is engineering this ObamaNation so we all do tshuva!