Iran to shoot down ‘flying objects’ near nuclear facilities

[seemslikeadream]

TEHRAN: Iran’s air force has been ordered to shoot down any unidentified or suspicious flying objects in Iran’s airspace, an air force spokesman said on Saturday, amid state-media reports of sightings of flying objects near Iran’s nuclear installations.

“All anti-aircraft units and jet fighters have been ordered to shoot down the flying objects over Iran’s airspace,” spokesman of the Regular Army Air Force Colonel Salman Mahini said.

....

There are nuclear facilities in both provinces. The timing of the reported increase in sightings, which comes as the US is urging allies to confront Iran over its nuclear program, has strengthened Iranian public perceptions that the objects are surveillance or hostile aircrafts monitoring Iran.

Iran’s Air Force chief General Karim Ghavami was quoted in Iranian newspapers Saturday as saying that Iran was fully prepared to defend any threat to its nuclear installations. “We have arranged plans to defend nuclear facilities from any threat. Iran’s Air Force is watchful and prepared to carry out its responsibilities,” Ghavami was quoted as saying. The paper had reported that “shining objects” in the sky were seen near Natanz — where Iran’s uranium enrichment plant is located — and one had exploded, causing “concern and panic in the region.” ap
more
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_26-12-2004_pg7_44

[BadGimp]

1. a prelude to the comming storm

me thinks GW and the Neocons will be attacking those nuculer facilities soon

[renegade000]

2. probably unmanned drones

doing surveillance

[Ian David]

4. If I were a US commander...

If I were a US or Israeli commander planning to attack the Iranian facilities, I would frequently over-fly the area with some kind of decoy aircraft. For example, very small UAVs designed to have a deceptively large radar signature.

The idea would be to keep them scrambling unnecessarily, extremely often, until they become complacent and desensitized to sighting un-identified aircraft that turn out to vanish into thin air.

Then, when the REAL attack happens, the Iranians will look at their radar screens, yawn, and say, "Oh, more of those false radar contacts. Do you think we should wake the commander?" At the very least, you can keep their planes and crews stretched to the limit with constant false alerts.

[Minstrel Boy]

3. April: "UFOs over Iran? An East Haven, Connecticut man offers proof"

(East Haven-WTNH, Apr. 30, 2004 7:20 PM) _ It's not often we report on UFOs, but lately there have been a number of sightings in Iran. And a Connecticut man has the pictures that he says prove something is out there.

"I really have no choice but to believe," says Abi Golbazi of East Haven. "I've never seen anything like this."

...

While visiting family the East Haven engineer recorded over 20 minutes of footage of the object, and wondered if this phenomenon would become a regular visitor to the Middle East.

...

Golbazi wasn't alone. Since his encounter almost two weeks ago Iran has been abuzz with extraterrestrial sightings making headlines all around the world. But if it isn't a UFO, then what is it? The astronomical society of Iran speculates on it being a satellite, a spy plane, even the planet Venus. But Golbazi discredits all of that. He, who by the way never believed in UFO's, now believes that it was a visitor from outer space.



http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=1831026&nav=3YeXMklK

[Occulus]

7. UFO nuts don't realize

WE built everything they are seeing in the skies

[soothsayer]

13. mebbe in Iran, but not everywhere

[Octafish]

16. Things in the Persian Sky

Here's a Radar-Visual case, as classified by Hynek:

Ah! My dear Watson, there we come into those realms of conjecture, where the most logical mind may be at fault. Each may form his own hypothesis upon the present evidence, and yours is as likely to be correct as mine." -- (The Adventure of the Empty House by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Best UFO Cases I: Iran, 1976

Declassified Defense Intelligence Agency documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that on 19 September, 1976, an unusual incident occurred over Tehran, Iran.

At about 0030 hours, the Shah's Imperial Iranian Air Force command post at Tehran received four telephone reports from citizens in the Shemiran area of the city. Some of the callers reported seeing a bird-like object in the sky, while others reported a helicopter with a bright light. When the command post found that there were no helicopters airborne at that time, they called BG Yousefi, assistant deputy commander of operations.Yousefi at first said the object was only a star, but after talking to the tower at Mehrabad Airport, he looked for himself and saw a very bright object larger than a star. At that point he decided to scramble an F-4 jet from Shahrokhi AFB.

At 0130 hours, the F-4 took off and proceeded to a point 40 nautical miles north of Tehran. It was noted that the object was of such brilliance that it could be seen up to 70 miles away. When the F-4 came to within about 25 nautical miles of the object, the jet suddenly lost all instrumentation and communications. The pilot broke off the intercept and turned away. When the F-4 had turned back towrd Sharokhi, the aircraft regained instrumentation and communication.

At 0140 hours, a second F-4 was scrambled and it acquired a radar lock on the object at 27 nautical miles range, closing on the object at 150 nautical miles per hour. At a range of 25 nautical miles, the object began to move, keeping a steady distance of 25 nautical miles from the F-4.

SNIP...
The next day, the F-4 crew flew out in a helicopter to the site where they had seen the smaller object land. In the daylight, it was determined to be a dry lake bed, but no traces could be seen. They then circled the area to the west and picked up a noticeable "beeper" signal. The signal was loudest near a small house, so they landed and questioned the occupants of the house about any unusual events of the previous night. They reported a loud noise and a bright light like lightning.

CONTINUED...

http://ufos.about.com/library/weekly/aa030298.htm

[Tinoire]

5. Anyone thinking of attacking Iran isn't the crispest fry in the packet n/t

[reprobate]

6. You just described the entire adminstration.

[Tinoire]

8. LMAO! The entire administration and their supporters. Sadly,

Sadly, I think more highly of the administration than I do of its supporters. The administration, at least, has the saving "grace" of being evil. The supporters? Just plain old S.T.U.P.I.D. with every letter in capitals!


"The best argument against democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter." — Winston Churchill

[iconoclastic cat]

9. Not extraterrestrials. They're the new super-secret blimps.

Look on the Artbell.com site. You'll find them around somewhere.

On edit: Hell, I hope those things actually are extraterrestrials. Perhaps they can help us pull our collective heads our of our asses.

[lovuian]

10. Iran is giving us Notice its going to shoot anything that moves

Risky Business... But Bush doesn't want a nuclear activated Iran!!!

[iconoclastic cat]

12. Here it comes...here it comes...

Here it comes, your 19th excuse for an imperialist war!

(Sorry, Mick.)

[VegasWolf]

11. Iran laughing at chimp, they know chimp can do nothing but bluster. n/t

[Cori Cycle]

14. It's not the drone...

it's the Santa they saw over the sky of Iran. 

[teryang]

15. A point defense will be ineffective

Generally you need to intercept at or before the coast in point. If that is not feasible, likely ingress routes need to ascertained in advance with suitable barrage patterns or combat barrier patrols established. This is something that the N.Vietnamese perfected. Ideally of course, the most effective defense is to go to the source but this is often not politically feasible.

The small radar cross signature and low ingress altitudes make intercepting drones very problematic.