Video: Iran's Khordad 3 SAM system shoots down US drone
The Iranian military has released video that shows the moment an indigenous Khordad 3 air defense system of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Forces fires a surface-to-air missile at an intruding US spy drone.
The video shows the mobile air defense system launching the missile from an undisclosed location in Iran's southern parts in the early hours of Thursday.
The missile successfully hit its target inside the Iranian airspace over the coastal province of Hormuzgan.
Specifications of Khodad-3
— Press TV (@PressTV) June 21, 2019
Air Defense System#Iran #USdroneShotDown #Drone #UnitedStates #HormuzStrait pic.twitter.com/drUeQLDYrq
Hours later, American military officials confirmed that a US Navy MQ-4C Triton drone had been shot down in "international airspace" near the Strait of Hormuz, in the Persian Gulf.
The IRGC had declared in a statement earlier that the drone was from the RQ-4 Global Hawk variety. Triton is a slightly modified version of the Global Hawk and is made mostly from its components.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced later in the day that Iran had located parts of the drone in its territorial waters.
At 00:14 US drone took off from UAE in stealth mode & violated Iranian airspace. It was targeted at 04:05 at the coordinates (25°59'43"N 57°02'25"E) near Kouh-e Mobarak.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 20, 2019
We've retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down. pic.twitter.com/pJ34Tysmsg
Meanwhile, an unnamed US official told Reuters that the debris field was in international waters and American naval assets have been dispatched to the area to retrieve them.
Khordad 3 is a domestic Iranian design which was first unveiled in 2014.
Equipped with a powerful phased array radar, the system can engage up to four targets at the same time and fire a total of eight missiles at them.
The system has an operational range of between 50 and 75 kilometers and can intercept airborne targets as high as 25 to 30 kilometers.
Iran has recently made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing military equipment and hardware despite facing sanctions and Western economic pressure.
The Islamic Republic says its military power is solely for defensive purposes and does not pose any threat to other countries.
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