The American spy drone was flown from a base in Afghanistan’s Qandahar and is thought to have been programmed to intrude into Iran’s airspace.
The pilotless aircraft was flying as near as 20 miles (32 kilometers) away from the Iranian airspace, but changed its path after receiving a timely warning from the Iranian forces.
It came after Nazir, an advanced Iranian radar used for detecting small targets at long distances, became operational in a desert in the country.
According to Air Defense Commander Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, no stealth aircraft will intrude into Iran’s airspace with the coming into service of Nazir.
The homegrown radar is particularly employed to detect targets with pretty small cross-section areas, American jet Lockheed U-2, and drones like General Atomics MQ-1 Predator and Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, he added.
Known as a suitable option against the anti-radiation missiles, Nazir is capable of detecting targets in ranges of 800 kilometers and at 100,000-feet altitudes.
