On June 20, 2019, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down a United States
RQ-4A Global Hawk BAMS-D surveillance drone.
As per reports, Khordad-3 surface-to-air missile
was used to bring down the drone over the
Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian officials claimed that the drone violated
their airspace, while U.S. representatives
claimed that the drone was in international
airspace.
Russia has taken Iran’s side when it comes
to the location of the shootout whereas France
has said that its intelligence collaborates
American analysis.
A single RQ-4A Global Hawk costs $131.4 million
excluding R&D expenses.
This makes is it pricier than an F 35 which
now cost around 90 million and 10 times the
price of drones like the Predator and Reaper.
Many reports in mainstream media especially
in the West has picked up on this and seem
to be creating a lot of hype with regards
to Iran’s military capability.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why
Iran downing an American RQ-4 Global Hawk
means nothing when it comes to real combat
?
Let's get started.
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The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is an
unmanned (UAV) surveillance aircraft.
The Global Hawk performs duties similar to
that of the Lockheed U-2.
The RQ-4 provides a broad overview and systematic
surveillance using high-resolution synthetic
aperture radar (SAR) and long-range electro-optical/infrared
(EO/IR) sensors.
It is capable of taking high definition and
infra-red images as well as can intercept
telephone and radio chatter.
Global Hawk has a range of more than 12,000
nautical miles or 22,200 km, can fly at very
high altitudes of 60,000 feet, and can keep
loitering for around 34 hours without break.
It can survey as much as 40,000 square miles
or 100,000 km2 of terrain a day.
This is equivalent to the size of South Korea
or Iceland.
Global Hawk has no offensive capabilities
and is dedicated to intelligence gathering.
But in a conflict, RQ-4 Global Hawk is not
Iran will face.
U.S will deploy F22 Raptor, F 35 Lightning
II and B2 Spirit.
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II which
is a single-seat, single-engine, all-weather
stealth multirole fighters is undergoing final
development and testing by the United States.
F-35's stealthy design makes it capable of
functioning in extremely high-threat environments
and initiate attack even against advanced
enemy air defenses.
It is capable of deploying a wide range of
weapons that include smart bombs and Anti-radiation weapons.
F 22 Raptor is the first operational aircraft
to combine super-cruise, super-maneuverability,
sensor fusion and stealth in a single platform.
Supercruise is the ability to have sustained
supersonic flight without having to use the
highly inefficient afterburners.
With this F 22 can intercept targets which
subsonic aircraft would lack the speed to
pursue and an afterburner-dependent aircraft
would lack the fuel to reach.
Apart from the excellent performance matrix,
F 22 also has very strong stealth characteristics.
Because of all this, it is actually considered
to be the most potent fighter jet in the world.
The B-2 Spirit was developed to take over
the United States Air Force’s high-value
penetration missions.
It is able to travel deep into enemy territory
and unleash its weapons payload which could
include nukes.
The B-2 is a flying wing aircraft, meaning
it has no fuselage or tail.
The incorporation of low-observable technologies
with high aerodynamic efficiency and large
payload makes B 2 Spirit the most potent bomber
in the world.
There is still no operational bomber that
possesses capabilities like the B-2.
Let us now check 3 reasons why shooting down
these platforms will be a totally different
ball game when compared to RQ-4 Global Hawk
Global Hawk is a pretty big drone.
It has a wingspan of more than 130 feet.
To give viewers a perspective, this is similar
to a Boeing 737 passenger jet.
RQ-4 Global Hawk is not designed to be stealth
and with the large size, it has a very big
Radar Cross Section (RCS)
This makes it vulnerable to a modern air defense
system.
But F 22 Raptor, F 35 Lightning II and B2
Spirit are tailored to be stealthy and have
very small RCS.
This makes it very hard for Air Defense Systems
to target these.
It is to be noted that, just detecting the
aircraft won’t do, it is important to have
continuous tracking that can guide a missile
to the aircraft.
Many new radars are now able to ‘detect’ stealth aircraft but there are very few that can ’track’ these.
Global Hawk is not meant to dogfight.
It has a top speed of 391 mph or 629 km/h
and very low maneuverability.
B 2 Spirit has decent maneuverability, at
least far better than a Global Hawk.
F 35 may not be very good when it comes to
maneuverability as compared to few other modern
fighters, but it is still far ahead of the
game when compared to a drone like Global
Hawk
F 22 is one of the most agile fighter jets.
Its maneuverability is at the top of the stack
and is demonstrated by its ability to pull
off Pugachev’s Cobra maneuver.
Pugachev’s Cobra is a demanding maneuver
in which an airplane flying at a moderate
speed suddenly raises the nose to the vertical
position and slightly beyond like a cobra’s
hood, before dropping it back to normal flight.
This requires impressive engine thrust to
maintain approximately constant altitude through
the entire move.
B 2 Spirit flies at high subsonic speed whereas
F35 & F 22 are capable of supersonic speed.
The much better speed and maneuverability
mean that the American offensive fleet will
be far harder to knock down when compared
to a remotely controlled platform like Global Hawk.
This is because they can that take evasive
actions when targeted by Surface to Air Missile.
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is a mechanism
designed to trick or deceive radar.
It may be used both offensively and defensively
to deny targeting information to an enemy.
The system may make many separate targets
appear to the enemy, or make the real target
appear to disappear or move about randomly.
This kind of systems can also jam enemy sensors
by overloading them with too much information.
ECM can be used effectively to protect aircraft
from Surface to Air Missile.
ECM is not available to Global Hawk.
But elaborate ECM capability is deployed by
F22 Raptor, F 35 Lightning II and B2 Spirit.
With ECM, the American offensive force will
be able to evade Iran’s missiles defense.
Iran has several types of air defense systems
that include indigenous once as well as of
foreign origin.
It has recently showcased KHORDAD 15 which
is thought to be far more advanced than the
Khordad 3.
Apart from these, Iran also has Russian made
S-300 which is its most potent air defense
system.
S 300 can be equipped with radars that are
claimed to have the capability to detect even
stealthy aircraft.
It is not known that those radars actually
work properly and if Russia has provided them
to Iran or not.
Iran is thought to possess 4 batteries each
of S 300 P and S 300 PMU2.
But the overall picture can be very well deciphered.
Iran has successfully shot down something
that was not equipped to penetrate the area
that is defended by decent air defense.
The downing shows that Iran’s military is
not to be taken lightly, but it doesn’t
mean it will be able to overpower an American
aerial onslaught.
American military not only has the hardware
platforms that are capable of dealing with
this kind of threats but also have very well
trained pilots and mission planners who know
exactly how to exploit the vulnerabilities
of enemy defenses.
