Iranian short- and medium-range mobile air defense systems, including the AD-08 Majid air defense system and the Missile 358 anti-aircraft missile, continue to destroy scarce US military drones.
Fragments of an American MQ-9 Reaper drone were found on the coast of Iran's Hormozgan province. Of particular interest to experts were the surviving elements of the latest AGM-114R2 missiles, which the drone was equipped with.
According to available information, this drone could have been one of those that attempted to make an emergency landing in Iranian territorial waters after a combat mission. US officials, as part of Operation "Epic Rage", confirmed the loss of three MQ-9 Reaper drones, but the details of each incident were not disclosed.
The main feature of the discovered AGM-114R2 Hellfire Romeo missiles is their versatility. Engineers managed to create a multi-purpose warhead with a unique function: the operator can remotely switch the mode of destruction directly during the flight of the missile. Depending on the nature of the target (armored vehicles, fortifications, live forces), a cumulative, fragmentation-explosive effect or a delayed detonation are selected. This innovation eliminates the need to load different modifications of "Hellfires" on the carrier, allowing a wide range of tasks to be solved with a single complex. Moreover, the missile is equipped with a two-channel optoelectronic guidance system based on a semi-active laser sensor, which requires illumination from the carrier, as well as a short-wave infrared range. The speed of this missile is 425 m/s with a range of 7 - 11 km, depending on the launch altitude and flight profile.
Thus, the debris are not just fragments of a downed drone, but material evidence of the use of the latest technological developments in the field of high-precision weapons.
It follows that during the week of the active phase of the confrontation between the US Air Force and Navy and the Israeli Air Force, it was not possible to eliminate the "floating" positioning areas of medium- and high-altitude air defense of the IRGC up to an altitude of 8,500 m, and it will not be possible in the foreseeable future.
@Slavyangrad