Iran displays downed U.S., British drones

Iran on Saturday displayed the debris of recently downed U.S. and British drones by its air defense system.

A view of an exhibition of what Iran says are the US and other drones captured in its territory, at Tehran's Islamic Revolution and Holy Defence museum, in the capital Tehran, September 21, 2019. [File Photo: IC]

In the showcase, called Hunting Vultures, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) displayed the remaining pieces of a U.S. military drone downed by the country's air defense system in June in its southern waters.

On June 21, Iran announced that it had downed a U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk "spy drone" which had violated Iranian airspace near the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC also displayed the Aerosonde HQ vertical take-off and landing drone belonging to the U.S. Army used for multi-intelligence payloads such as electronic warfare and communications relay in a single flight.

Aerosonde has been designed for expeditionary land and sea-based operations and equipped for simultaneous day and night full-motion video.

Desert Hawk was another captured American drone showcased in the exhibition. It has a length of 0.86 meters with a weight of 3.2 kg. It has an endurance of about an hour with an electric motor driving a quiet pusher propeller.

Besides, a British unmanned aerial vehicle, named Phoenix, seized by the IRGC in the country's territorial region recently, was put on show. Phoenix is an all-weather, day or night, real-time combat surveillance drone.

According to Press TV, Iran, in 2015, downed a U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft with minimal damage. The drone was flying over the Iranian city of Kashmar, near the Afghan border, when it was brought down.

During the exhibition on Saturday, IRGC Commander Hossein Salami said Iran will never allow a war on its soil.

Iran will follow and destroy any "aggressor" who stages even a limited attack on the country, said Salami.

"We will hit anyone who violates our borders," he said, adding Iran has so far demonstrated only part of its military capability.