IRGC Aerospace Defense Shoots Down Advanced U.S. MQ-9 Drone
The Aerospace Defense Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it has shot down an advanced MQ-9 drone belonging to the “terrorist U.S. army” in the southern region of the country.
Tehran (ISNA) - The statement issued by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reads as follows:
“The fighters of the IRGC Aerospace Defense Force targeted and destroyed the highly advanced MQ-9 drone of the terrorist U.S. army using modern advanced air defense systems operating under the control of the country’s integrated air defense network in the general area of the south of the country. The skies of the nation are completely unsafe for all types of enemy aircraft.”
The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance and strike missions. The MQ-9 is larger, heavier, and more capable than the MQ-1. It can be controlled using the same ground systems employed for the MQ-1.
Equipped with a 950-shaft-horsepower (712 kW) turboprop engine — compared to the MQ-1’s 115-horsepower (86 kW) piston engine — the MQ-9 can carry up to 15 times more ordnance and fly at nearly three times the speed of the MQ-1. The aircraft is monitored and controlled by a flight crew stationed at a Ground Control Station (GCS), from which its weapons systems are also operated.
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