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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

U.S. pilot scares off Iranians with 'Top Gun'-worthy stunt

2013-09-20

[WASHINGTONTIMES] The U.S. Air Force has a message for Iran: Don't mess with our drones.

In what only can be described as a scene out of Tom Cruise's "Top Gun," Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Air Force chief of staff, describes how F-22 stealth jets scared off Iranian jets from a U.S. drone flying in international airspace.

The Aviationist reports that in March a U.S. MQ-1 drone came close to being intercepted by an Iranian F-4 Phantom combat plane, but the Iranian aircraft stopped short after a warning by an American pilot.

"He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said 'you really ought to go home,'" Gen. Welsh said.

According to The Aviationist, the Iranians came within 16 miles of the drone.

Posted by:Fred

#8 When I read the headline, it made me think of the canopy to canopy move with the single finger salute. Of course, F22 is Air Force, not really flown by true aviators.

Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2013-09-20 19:42

#7 The fact that Iran can get spare parts for the Phantom is one of the reasons that when the F-14 was retired, all of them were destroyed except for a few museum pieces.

Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2013-09-20 18:05

#6 the F-4 is not a sophissticated aircraft, a brick with big honking engines so relatively easy to reverse engineer;

Thanks, USN,Ret. Always interesting to get the inside deets. One of the things I love about the 'burg.

Posted by: SteveS 2013-09-20 14:43

#5 Oh, gorb, who is this Allan you speak of?

Just some sociopath's favorite excuse.

Posted by: gorb 2013-09-20 14:35

#4 Steve, the F-4 was sold to lots of countries; only the US has put an embargo on the sale of parts. Israel, Japan and Australia fly ( or flew) the Phantom and South Korea I think. I doubt these countries have the same embargo or sales ban protocols in place to keep third parties from acting as go betweens for sale of parts. Plus the F-4 is not a sophissticated aircraft, a brick with big honking engines so relatively easy to reverse engineer; they are already doing that to the TOmcats.

Posted by: USN,Ret. 2013-09-20 10:29

#3 Oh, gorb, who is this Allan you speak of?

Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2013-09-20 09:32

#2 I'm surprised the Iranians didn't take the F-22 out with one of their entirely indigenously developed hypersonic super-cavitating air-to-anything super-secret Allan-blessed torpedoes.

Posted by: gorb 2013-09-20 00:41

#1 The Persians can still put an F-4 in the air? Kind of impressive at this late date. Where do they get parts, Pep Boys?

Posted by: SteveS 2013-09-20 00:15

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