U.S. shoots down Iranian drone that approached USS Abraham Lincoln

CBSNews ^ | Feb. 3, 2026

[nuconvert]

U.S. forces shot down an Iranian drone that flew towards a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, U.S. Central Command confirmed.

The military said the drone "aggressively" approached the USS Abraham Lincoln as it was crossing through the Arabian Sea roughly 500 miles from the southern coast of Iran and "unnecessarily maneuvered" toward the ship. U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said the drone continued to flew toward the carrier "despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters."

The drone was shot down by a F-35 fighter jet, and no American service members were harmed in the incident, Hawkins said in a statement.

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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: arabiansea; drones; iran; iraniandrone; irgc; military; shaheddrone; shaheed; stenaimperative; straightofhormuz; ussabrahamlincoln; ussmccaul

[nuconvert]

U.S. Central Command also confirmed that hours later, forces with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps harassed a U.S.-flagged and crewed oil tanker, Stena Imperative, that was moving through the Strait of Hormuz. Hawkins said two Iranian military boats and an Iranian drone approached the vessel at “high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker.”

The USS McCaul, a guided-missile destroyer that was in the area, responded to the scene to escort the vessel with air support from the U.S. Air Force,

[ClearCase_guy]

Tugging on Superman’s cape.

[nuconvert]

Yup. Testing to see how close they can get.

[1Old Pro]

swat them out of the sky like fleas

[llevrok]

If a test fire of one of our cruise missiles goes astray into Tehran, I would not object.

[kinsman redeemer]

Here's video I found of Tim Hawkins.

I hope it helps.

[Made In The USA]

Testing our resolve…. Keep it up and they’ll get to play “catch the 50 cal in the forehead”. Or maybe that multi-player game “incineration”, where a whole city block plays hide and seek.

[kinsman redeemer]

...having a little fun.

[daniel1212]

According to US officials, the Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying towards the carrier "with unclear intent" and was intercepted after displaying what the military described as aggressive behaviour.

Meanwhile, presuming enemy radar works, and Navy's new tested laser will not:

'Dogfight of the century': Why US' F-35 can't survive Venezuela's suicide drone swarm attack

It sounds impossible. A plastic drone built from a kit versus a $100 million stealth fighter. But Pentagon war games suggest that in a US-Venezuela conflict, the "Swarm" could win, not by shooting down the jets, but by bankrupting the air force.

1. The "IKEA" Secret: The Invisible Stockpile

The most dangerous thing about Venezuela's drone fleet is not how many they have, but how they get them. Venezuela uses the "IKEA Model." They do not import finished drones that satellites can count on a runway. Instead, they import "Assembly Kits" from Iran, crates of engines and carbon fiber sheets that look like civilian auto parts. These are assembled locally at the EANSA factory in Maracay. This means the US intelligence community cannot know the true number. A warehouse of "car parts" can become 1,000 suicide drones in a matter of weeks, creating a "Ghost Fleet" that is impossible to track until it launches.

2. The Math Problem: $1 Million vs. $20,000

The core issue is economic suicide. The Venezuelan ANSU-200 (an Iranian Shahed clone) costs roughly $20,000 to build. The F-35 uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile to defend itself, which costs $1.2 million. If an F-35 shoots down a drone, the US loses over $1.1 million in the exchange. If Venezuela launches 1,000 drones, the US would burn through billions of dollars in ammunition to stop a threat that costs Venezuela mere pennies.

3. The Ammo Crisis: 4 Missiles vs. 50 Drones

The F-35 is designed for quality, not quantity. In "Stealth Mode," it carries only 4 air-to-air missiles internally. This creates a fatal volume problem. Venezuela would not send one drone; they would launch a "wave" of 50. An F-35 pilot can shoot down the first four targets in seconds, but then the jet is empty. The remaining 46 drones fly past the helpless fighter to hit their targets, leaving the pilot with a perfect jet but zero ability to stop the attack.

Suicide drones target Runways and Fuel Depots.- https://www.wionews.com/photos/-swarm-wars-can-venezuela-s-1-000-iranian-suicide-drones-beat-us-f-35-fighter-jet-squadron-1766063352230/1766063352236

[Disambiguator]

Wait, fleas can fly?

[BOBWADE]

Sounds like probing our defense network

[daniel1212]

Also, Shooting Down Russian Drones in Poland Cost NATO Millions

NATO’s tactic of using AMRAAM missiles against cheap decoy drones, the Gerbera, in the event of a large-scale war could lead to a rapid depletion of weapons stockpiles. The exact “net” price of these missiles is not disclosed. However, an analysis of contracts for sales to US allies shows that their cost ranges between $1.5 and $2 million. - https://militarnyi.com/en/news/shooting-down-russian-drones-in-poland-cost-nato-millions/

According to Bild, NATO deployed F-35 fighter jets to intercept unidentified drones over Polish territory. The mission, however, came at a steep price — at least €1.2 million.

Despite the cost, the results were limited. Alliance aircraft managed to bring down only a small number of drones. The F-35s themselves struck about three targets, using AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles valued at roughly €400,000 each. NATO representatives acknowledged that such operations cannot be carried out regularly,

- https://voennoedelo.com/en/posts/id1029-nato-spends-1.2m-using-f-35-jets-to-shoot-down-cheap-drones

Iran Sent Russia $2.7 Billion Worth of Missiles Alone

[NorthMountain]

The F-35 uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile to defend itself, which costs $1.2 million.

The F-35 also uses the AIM-9X missile, at about $330,000. The economics still favor the drone-swarm, which highlights the need to find and eliminate the drone swarm's base before they're launched.

[Ben Dover]

Time to resurrect the AIR-2A (Genie)

[HKMk23]

Tehran is a city of millions, the vast majority of whom HATE the mullahs.

Any “errant” ordnance that might happen to plop down there needs to be “errant” with all the immense precision of which I know we are very capable.

[NorthMountain]

From wikihahahahahapedia:

. The final design carried a 1.5-kiloton W25 nuclear warhead ... A live Genie was detonated only once, in Operation Plumbbob on 19 July 1957 ... A group of five USAF officers volunteered to stand uncovered in their light summer uniforms underneath the blast to prove that the weapon was safe for use over populated areas. They were photographed by Department of Defense photographer George Yoshitake who stood there with them. Gamma and neutron doses received by observers on the ground were negligible.

I find it amusingly ironic that the photographer was Japanese.

[piasa]

That worked out really well for Maduro.

[T.B. Yoits]

[catnipman]

Message to Iran: “Dear Iran, Please send more drones: we really enjoy the target practice. Sincerely, US CentCom.”