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Posted: 2/16/2005 8:15:28 AM EDT
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We aren't at war with them, yet. They are recon drones, why degrade performance and cause political problems by arming them? If Canada were flying drones over our nuke plants, we'd be justified in shooting them down, no? And... Shoot all you want, we'll make more. 
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Gee, no threat implied there.
Uh huh. LOL! |
<-- My response to Iran
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Hahahahaha ! If the drone surveillance has been going on for so long, they would already have shot one down IF they could. Even if they can, shooting the occasional drone down will probably just give us lots of good information on their air defense capability and response speed, so go ahead and try!! |
+1 Nothing like political turmoil to stimulate the economy! 
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It would seem a little hypocritial for us not to assume any other nation would shoot down such aircraft, either. Kind of like when people got all bent about the US spy aircraft being forced to land in China after a mid-air accident/collision with one of their aircraft. Those same people probably wouldn't have a problem with our similar treatment of a foreign aircraft spying on us in the same manner. |
Who assumed that? You appear to be missing the point entirely. AND falling into the trap of moral equivalency. |
Well, why don't you feel free to be helpful and clue me into the real point, then. What is it, the futility of Iran trying to or even being successful at shooting down our drones? The typical response of "Ha ha, so what?" |
The point is, it's an empty threat. Even if they DO shoot them down, as you put it "Haha, so what?" It's a moderately expensive remotely controlled airplane. It's an impotent threat that makes Iran look stupid. |
That's twisting that incident quite a bit. The Chinese send fighter jets to 'accompany' (intimidate) our aircraft flying near Chinese airspace. I don't think our electronic surveillance plane entered Chinese airspace until it was damaged and had to land at the nearest airfield. That being said, Iran is a soverign nation. If they want to shoot down UFOs, that's their perogative. Jim |
Sorry if that did indeed get twisted. I realize that our eavesdropping aircraft was operating just outside of Chinese airspace. Point is, had the roles been reversed and the same situation happened here, I think a similar outcome would have been expected.
That was my initial point. |
Yeah, I can appreciate that. Similarly, it's kind of like TSA shaking down 80 year old grandmas to try to catch terrorists. |
The two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other and one begins to wonder if you have another agenda that has no connection to the story that you wish to insert into any discussion involving politics. |
It was a simple analogy. Try not to read too much into everything. |
It was a poor analogy if that's what it was. And it's hard to not read things when they're spelled out in big letters. |
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They do have the right to shoot them down. They are military recon aircraft that ilegally entered Iranian airspace. They announcement is supposed to make us think they've been tolerating the aircraft in hopes of preventing conflict. But the reality is that they have been unable to shoot them down. And I'm sure we use the drones for more than recon photos. We are probing their air defenses. We want them to eventually shoot some down. Until they do, we don't know if they are holding back, or are just unable. |
In related news... "Iran expels 500,000 rounds of ammunition in a nation wide effort to shoot down American spy drones. In their effort, they inadvertantly destroyed five mosque towers, two kites being flown by children, and a Ford Pinto. Death toll now stands at 8." |
"THIS JUST IN...... John Kerry says he would have done better and this is all Bush's fault. Dean responds by melting down. Developing....." 
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The UAVs and UCAVs are virtually invisible to the Iranians across the EM spectrum from DC to light. It is their airspace and we are spying openly. So what? They have chosen this path. The hard truth is, we could just as easily have a black bomber loaded with B-61s orbiting Iran 24/7. (Maybe we DO?  )The drones are made of radar absorbant materials. Their engines use wooden props or the jet engines are built into the craft so as to mask the turbine blades from radars in order to prevent jet engine modulations or JEMs. They fly at medium to high altitudes IOT avoide visually and IR controlled AAA. In short...the drones are darn near impossible to kill. The Iranians might get lucky...but chances are they have tried many times already and failed to successfully engage our drones. Now that they and the Syrians have struck up a bargain against the Evil Americans and George Bush, having our spies in place is really a good thing. I wonder when the boyz and girlz on the DDGs and CGs will be warming up the T-Hawks in the bullpens? |