CNN is reporting an F-15 pilot whose aircraft was shot down over Iran reported seeing a synchronized swarm of drones as he ejected from his crippled aircraft. He was rescued almost immediately but the so far unidentified colonel in the weapons systems officer’s seat sparked a massive rescue operation to pluck him from a hiding place in nearby mountains. The drone swarm has military officials concerned that Iran has developed a capability far more advanced than it was believed to have. “Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs,” CNN said one of its sources claimed. “Real alien sh*t.”
According to the report it’s still not clear what, if any, role the drone swarm had in bringing down the fighter. There has also been skepticism that the pilot actually saw what he claimed to have seen. The pilot suffered a concussion in the ejection but he has also adamantly insisted the drone swarm was real. It’s not known if the strangely senior backseater also saw the drones.
Abandoned herring nets is the obvious answer. Forget chaff. A pair of cropdusters dragging an old herring net will clear the skies mighty pronto. If speed is required tie the nets to a pair of A10s’. These could be remotely piloted if need be. Happy hunting.
Please Don’t give hagsbreath any more dumb ideas.
Any crop dusters flying fishing nets behind them would be the first aircraft taken out by these drone swarms and they would be dust in the wind.
Also why is this so called modern drone warfare surprising to anyone who has been awake for the last several years, back in the summer of 2023, during the Azerbaijan and Armenia war, entire Armenian tank battalions were destroyed by Azerbaijan drone swarms so why is this now being taken seriously like it is a new issue?
We have had 3 years to study modern drone warfare but we have obviously been sleeping and since we can’t even beat the war on Algae how are we supposed to beat drones?
At Airventure, during the night air shows, we see the choreographed drones forming all sorts of images, floating inanimate objects, all essentially flying in very intricate, organized formations. China and other Asian countries regularly do likewise for New Year’s celebrations. The intelligence agencies have confirmed this F-15 pilot’s claims of a very intricate, “jellyfish” like swarm of Iranian drones in close proximity to his airplane when he was shot down. Iran has far more sophisticated military drone technology than the US military. So does Russia and China. Plus, all three have hypersonic missle technology including manuverablity, tested not in some sort virtual reality, with hopeful Wall Street investment AI generated hype. Battle tested. Battle proven with constant combat improvements. This “PIREP” should not be a surprise. Nor should we dismiss this as aerial toys. This is modern warfare that we are woefully unprepared for, while we posture as the mightiest military in the world. War has a way of separating claims from facts.
Exactly. The level of “surprise” by sources in the CNN article is actually the surprising part.
There is nothing strange about a crewmember being of higher rank than the pilot. It happened all the time when I flew in the Air Force.