Downed Israeli drone, Hermes type: IRGC commander

Tehran, Aug 25, IRNA – A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that the Israeli spy plane which was traced and shot down in central Iran was of Hermes type. Commander of IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said, ˈThe downed spy drone is Hermes and made in Israel.ˈ According to the brigadier general the spy plane had taken off from ˈone of the regional states.ˈ ˈThe operational range of the spy drone made it clear that it had not taken off from the occupied territories but from one of the regional states. There are some clues to this end which are being analyzed by Iranian experts,ˈ he added. The radar-evading pilotless spy plane was spotted by IRGC anti-air craft unit and shot down on Sunday after it attempted to penetrate into Natanz nuclear site in Isfahan Province, central Iran. Briefing domestic media on details of hunting the Israeli drone, Commander Hajizadeh said the operational range of Hermes drones is 800 kilometers and they can fly 1,600 kilometers after refueling once. The Elbit Systems Hermes 450 is an Israeli medium size multi-payload UAV, designed for tactical long endurance missions. It has a flight endurance of over 20 hours, with a primary mission of reconnaissance, surveillance and communications relay. The IRGC commander further stated that the radar-evading aircraft, which is 5.5 meters wide, is equipped with two cameras which can take high-quality photos. The spy plane was completely destroyed since it had immediately caught fire after being targeted by an IRGC surface-to-air missile. However, ˈSome parts of the drone are intact and we are analyzing them,ˈ Commander Hajizadeh said. ˈThere was no prior information available about the aircraft and the only one of this type had been downed in Syria, but this one is more advanced,ˈ he added. Noting that Iranˈs armed forces including the IRGC and Army are well-prepared to defend the countryˈs territorial integrity, the brigadier general stressed ˈThis mischievous act once again proved the adventurist nature of the war mongering Zionist regime and added another black page has been added to the dark record of this fake and warmongering regime, which is full of crimes and wickedness,ˈ /end