Reporting on Tuesday, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that the Ababil (Flock of Birds)-V drone had managed to conduct the operation against an American Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the northern part of the body of water.
The aircraft reportedly took off from a base located on the southern Iranian island of Jask before heading to conduct the surveillance mission against the US vessel.
The Ababil-class unmanned aerial vehicle is hard to detect by reconnaissance apparatuses since its body is capable of absorbing radar signals.
The aircraft can carry up to six surgical strike missiles with highly explosive warheads.
Ababil-5 is among the aircraft that are currently being deployed by the Army as part of a countrywide drone drill. The maneuvers are underway featuring hundreds of sophisticated reconnaissance and combat drones.
This is not the first time Iranian drones have managed to retrieve accurate images and footage of seaborne American military assets.
In April 2021, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) released strikingly precise and close footage of an American aircraft carrier captured by the elite force’s drones during an overflight of the vessel in the Persian Gulf.
The video recorded by an apparently four-strong drone squadron, provided real-time and remarkably close details of every warplane as well as other military aircraft and equipment that had been deployed on the carrier’s deck.
Testifying before the US Congress that year, the head of the United States Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie stated Iran’s widespread use of drones meant that the US was operating without complete air superiority for the first time since the Korean War.
In 2019, Iranian media outlets released high-quality and close-up footage that showed an Ababil-III surveillance drone belonging to the Corps flying over the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.
