Sounds like it was in their airspace. The strait waterway has passage rights. Its 21 miles wide and territorial water and airspace is 12. From other posts earlier, it sounds like a ship on the water is legal under treaties but in some places the aircraft above violates national space.
In one article it said it was, and in another that it was NOT in Iran’s airspace/ I don’t trust them.
Sounds like it was in their airspace.
No doubt the Marine Barracks the Iranians blew up was “in their airspace” too.
Our Navy may be jamming Iranian radar and with a jumpy Iranian operator, could be trouble.
The Navy doesn’t turn on the drone transponders when near borders like our USAF and Army do, not a good practice.
We are operating on razor thin margins here in a very small battle space.
First, in areas narrower than 24 miles, Iran doesn’t automatically get 12 miles and everyone else gets whatever remains. The boundaries are settled by treaties and international law, and clear to all concerned. Second, most of the area is much wider than 24 miles. Having spent a not insignificant portion of my life standing watch in CIC in Aegis Cruisers and Destroyers, I can tell you that “Hot Dog Red” mistakes (entering enemy airspace) are extremely rare. The MQ-4 is a major asset, and there is no way we are going to fly it into Iran Airspace. They are far too easy to see and shoot down. The US Navy statement said it was 20 miles from Iran, and it appears we have video from a ship showing the downing. I can also tell you, we will have data from our ships in the area, as we are recording everything on our radars and data-links 24/7, not to mention the data from the drone operators. We are going to have to respond to this. Fortunately no one was killed, so maybe we can keep it that way. But it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Trump takes out the SAM site responsible, or more.
“Sounds like it was in their airspace. “
Sound to me like it wasn’t ...
Why does it sound like it was in their space? Certainly not because they said so. The photo the produced turned out to be a fraud, did you know that?
Also the drones have a substantial stand off capability and really have no need to be on top of a target to gather information.