"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."
,’” Gen. Welsh said."
It's instructive that the Iranians are still flying Phantoms, a Vietnam war era product (and a good one, don't get me wrong), while we are on the cutting edge of technology. If you were the Mahkmood flying that F-4, and then suddenly there is a spooky scary Raptor right there on your wing, wouldn't you thank your lucky stars that you were able to fly safely home, and not plummeting in flames to the sea below?
The Phantom has a very big radar cross section.
ReplyDeleteThe Iranians had F-14's when the Shah fell, but they didn't fly since then and have been apron queens.
Too complicated and expensive to keep in the air. Phantoms, on the other hand, are another story.
DeleteWould be nice if the American pilot was actually defending the United States. I would wager the Iranian was a lot closer to home than the American. We need to bring all of our troops home and put America and her defense first. Leave the Middle East to the people who live there.
ReplyDeleteHere's the problem with that; The Raptor is a high altitude photo recon drone . It's not a stealth anything nor is it a fighter. It has NO air-to-air weapons, no pilot and no two way radio .OH and the MQ-1 Raptor DRONE(no pilot) fly's at a MAX 550 MPH over a fixed , pre programed FP. It is a subsonic Air Craft. The F-4 fly's at a MAX 1475 MPH( Mach 2.5) and is faster than any aircraft currently serving in any western Air Force. I think you got punked on this one. The whole story is BS
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI believe the confusion is coming from the difference between the drone here, which is designated an MQ-1, and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. More on the Raptor fighter here:
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor
The Raptor is the piloted jet, which intercepted the Iranian Phantom which was in turn on it's way to shoot down the unmanned drone. So, there were three aircraft involved: the drone flying on it's preprogrammed flight path, the Iranian Phantom, and the American F-22.
When all the parties are correctly identified, it makes perfect sense.
The Raptor could smoke the Phantom in any environment.
DeleteThe only nation I know that has a more laughable air force is North Korea. Last year the government there published pictures of their "awesome" military, I guess to scare the rest of us, and the photos of their jets looked straight out of the Korean War.
DeleteIf the Phantom is no match for the F-22, then imagine what an absurd fight it would be between fully modern military jets and those from the Korean War era.
The Phantoms are very workable tools against a foe who is not better provided, but just a death trap for the pilot pitted against anything in the class of an F-22. The Iranian pilot's best course in a war with us would be to fly their jets directly to Iraq and surrender.