A US fighter jet pilot rescued by special forces after being shot down over Iran in April described a shocking sight before ejecting from his aircraft: multiple Iranian drones hovering in the air, moving as one, in a formation that resembled a jellyfish, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
Iranian Drone Capabilities
The account, which has not been previously reported, was shared by the F-15 pilot with intelligence officials during a debriefing after the incident. It immediately set off a debate within the US intelligence community that has yet to be resolved. If the airman really saw what he described — a formation moving in unison — it would be an alarming advance in Iranian drone capabilities.
US intelligence officials disagreed on how to interpret what the F-15 pilot described, and whether the pilot could recount the incident clearly. The technical term for the capability described by the pilot is “one-to-many meshed networking,” according to the sources.
Other countries — Russia and China — are believed to have the capability. Any development in Iran’s already-sophisticated drone warfare program would be a concern for US forces and its allies in the region. Meshed networking could also theoretically be used to provide internet connectivity in remote areas without existing infrastructure, noted one US official — in theory, a benign function.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
