Iran repelled U.S. reconnaissance aircraft:Iranian general

TEHRAN,March 13(MNA) – Iranian air defense units detected and warned away a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane which intended to enter Iranian airspace on February 10, the commander of the Khatam-ol-Anbiya Air Defense Base said at a news conference on Tuesday. Brigadier General Farzad Esmaeili said, “Around midday on (February 10), a U-2 reconnaissance plane, which is radar-evading, received our warning in the Gulf of Oman before approaching Iranian borders.” “The plane responded and heeded our warning, and immediately flew away from our borders,” he said. The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed Dragon Lady, is a single-engine, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force. It provides day and night, very high-altitude, all-weather intelligence gathering. Esmaeili also said, “This plane is highly advanced… The mission of this type of plane is to gather information about the targeted countries.” “Our radar systems and electronic surveillance systems were constantly monitoring the plane until it reached the middle of the Gulf of Oman and the southeast of the Strait of Hormuz… And when it intended to enter Iranian airspace, the Persian Gulf radar sent a warning to it, and the plane said that it is one of the planes of coalition forces and that it will keep away from the Islamic Republic’s borders,” he explained. “Most probably, the plane intended to take film and gather information in the south of the country,” he added. Elsewhere in his remarks, Esmaeili said that if any foreign plane intended to enter the country’s airspace and ignored warnings, it would be regarded as a hostile aircraft, and Iranian fighter jets, air defense systems, and missile systems would deal with it.