Tehran, Iran, Aug. 25
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' Aerospace Forces said that the Israeli spy drone that was shot over the Iranian sky is a Hermes-type.
Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said that the Israeli drone was equipped with two front and side cameras that could capture panoramic footage with very high resolution.
"The drone is made by the Zionist regime and can operate within a range of 800 kilometers," he explained.
He went on to note that the aircraft can cruise 1,600 kilometers on one tank of fuel.
"We had prior information about the aircraft because a previous model had been shot down in Syria. But this downed drone is a more advanced version," Hajizadeh said, however this information could not be confirmed independently.
"On Saturday, Iran's aerial defense network announced the intrusion of the spy drone into the Iranian airspace and because it entered our defense range, it was shot down by a missile," the commander noted.
"The drone's operational range shows that it had not taken off from the Zionist regime's bases, rather from a base in some regional country. We have some clues about its departure point," he added.
"Anti-radar composite material had been used in the body of stealth drone to make it capable for reconnaissance missions," he said.
Earlier, IRGC Spokesman Brigadier General Ramadan Sharif said that some parts of the Israeli spy drone have been found undamaged.
"IRGC experts are currently working on the information recovered from the spy drone," he said.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards shot down a radar-evading Israeli spy drone that was trying to penetrate Natanz nuclear enrichment site in central Iran, state news agency ISNA said on Sunday, quoting the Revolutionary Guards, Reuters reported.
The incident reportedly happened on Saturday, but the IRGC broke the news on Sunday.
"The downed aircraft was of the stealth, radar-evasive type and it intended to penetrate the off-limit nuclear area in Natanz... but was targeted by a ground-to-air missile before it managed to enter the area," ISNA said, citing a statement by the Revolutionary Guards.
The Israeli military says it will not comment on foreign reports.
Israel and the West suspect Iran of planning to build a nuclear bomb. Iran has in the past often accused its Western and Israeli foes of trying to sabotage its nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful.