On the night of June 19, 2019, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) air defence forces shot down a US RQ-4A Global Hawk spy drone in the Strait of Hormuz. The incident nearly led US President Donald Trump to approve military strikes against Tehran, only to back down at the last moment.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Forces have released a new, highly stylized promotional video aimed at showing how the Khordad-3 air defence system shot down a cutting-edge US surveillance drone over Iranian airspace last year.
The clip offers new details on Iran’s account of the incident, starting with military engineers’ research, development, production and testing of the advanced, indigenous air defence system which managed to destroy the stealthy $220 million drone. The video includes never-before-seen test footage of missiles homing in on simulated drone targets.
The second part of the video focuses on the US’s drone operations, featuring stock footage and animation of the moments before the incident, recalling, importantly, the flight of a US P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft with dozens of servicemen onboard not far from the drone, which Iran deliberately refrained from shooting down to avoid escalating the situation.
In the final seconds of the video, air defence units are pictured on purported surveillance footage celebrating hitting the drone target, with a tiny blip in the sky several kilometers from the air defence installation presumably showing the unmanned aircraft’s destruction.
Source » sputniknews