AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Fighter jet calendar2/1/2024 ![]() officials as a balloon significantly smaller than the balloon - the size of three school buses - hit by a missile Feb. officials were still trying to precisely identify two other objects shot down by F-22 fighter jets, and were working to determine whether China was responsible as concerns escalated about what Washington said was Beijing’s large-scale aerial surveillance program.Īn object shot down Saturday over Canada’s Yukon was described by U.S. It was flying low at about 20,000 feet, said the official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. According to a senior administration official, the object was octagonal, with strings hanging off, but had no discernable payload. and Canadian authorities had restricted some airspace over the lake earlier Sunday as planes were scrambled to intercept and try to identify the object. Radar picked it up again Sunday hovering over the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and it was going over Lake Huron, Pentagon officials said Sunday. The latest brought down was first detected on Saturday evening over Montana, but it was initially thought to be an anomaly. Many Americans have been captivated by the drama playing out in the skies as fighter jets scramble to shoot down objects. and hovered above the nation for days before fighter jets downed it off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The extraordinary air defense activity began in late January, when a white orb the officials said was from China appeared over the U.S. “With some adjustments, we’ve been able to get a better categorization of radar tracks now,” he said, “and that’s why I think you’re seeing these, plus there’s a heightened alert to look for this information.” adjusted its radar so it could track slower objects. But the unusually assertive response was raising questions about whether such use of force was warranted, particularly as administration officials said the objects were not of great national security concern and the downings were just out of caution. authorities have made clear that they constantly monitor for unknown radar blips, and it is not unusual to shut down airspace as a precaution to evaluate them. “We have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase,” said Melissa Dalton, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense. Pentagon officials said they posed no security threats, but so little was known about them that Pentagon officials were ruling nothing out - not even UFOs. Since then, fighter jets last week also shot down objects over Canada and Alaska. Northern Command, said in a briefing with reporters. Meanwhile, Iran might send short-range precision-guided ballistic missiles to Russia in conjunction with this agreement.Įxcept for a few Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters purchased in the 1990s, Iran has not purchased any new fighter aircraft in recent years.Īccording to media reports, the Sukhoi SU-35s that Tehran will receive are “highly maneuverable fourth-generation fighter jets that will be used primarily for air superiority missions.”Īside from the MiG-29, the Iranian air force mostly employs locally modified F-4 Phantom II, F-14 Tomcat, and F-5E/F Tiger II jets that were given to the deposed US-backed Pahlavi government before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a “heightened alert” following a spy balloon from China that emerged over U.S. Heydari’s announcement also comes as part of the broader framework of Russian-Iranian cooperation – particularly in finance, banking, and trade – a framework under which Moscow and Tehran have been working to build an economic roadmap independent of western hegemony and sanctions. Heydari added that Russia would also deliver air defense systems, missile systems, and helicopters to Iran in the near future. Iran and Russia have recently inked important agreements to expand economic, commercial, energy, and military ties.Īccording to Shahriar Heydari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy panel, the jets will be delivered within the current Iranian calendar year, which began on 21 March. In the face of western sanctions, Tehran and Moscow have begun to tighten their cooperation. The original agreement to deliver the jets was signed between Iran and Russia on 11 March, state media IRNA reports.Īccording to IRNA, “Russia announced it was ready to sell them” once UN Resolution 2231, which prohibits Iran from obtaining conventional weapons, expired in October 2020. The Islamic Republic of Iran is expected to receive the first batch of the Russian-made SU-35 fighter jet next week, according to Iranian news outlet Mehr.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |