Iran ‘Shoots Down’ U.S. Spy Drone

[dantes76]

Iran ‘Shoots Down’ U.S. Spy Drone


Written by Rachelle Kliger
Published Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The Iranian army has shot down an American spy drone, according to a member of Iran’s parliament.

The drone, said to belong to the United States army, was downed while crossing the border into the country, MP Seyed Nezam Mola Hoveizeh told the Iranian Fars News Agency.

It was downed “during the last few days,” he said.

He pointed out this was not the first time the Americans had sent a spy drone to the region.

The report comes amid heightened tension between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran’s controversial nuclear program.

The United States Navy is denying the claim. "There has been no loss of any of our drones or UAVs and as a result, the claim that the Iranian government is making is false," said the Dubai-based U.S. Central Command spokesman, Capt. Frank Pascual.

Members of Iran’s parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said more regional diplomatic efforts should be exerted to force American warships out of the Persian Gulf, according to the Iranian daily Siyasat-e Ruz.

Iran is concerned that the U.S. is beefing up forces in the region for a possible military attack.

Their unease was increased after the U.S. sent a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf this week.

The USS John C. Stennis, with its 3,200 sailors, left the U.S. on Tuesday and is expected to arrive in the Middle East in a matter of weeks.

This is the first time two U.S. aircraft carriers will be stationed in the Persian Gulf since the war on Iraq began in 2003. The carrier will significantly boost the U.S.’s airpower in the region.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan has said it will not allow the U.S. to wage military attacks on Iran. Afghani Foreign Minister Rengin Dadavar Sabanta said there was a “friendly and historical relationship” between Iran and Afghanistan.

Iran is helping rebuild Afghanistan and there are no disagreements between the two countries, he told the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Washington is concerned that Iran intends to manufacture a nuclear weapon, while Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Tehran is denying reports that the head of its Supreme National Security Council ‘Ali Larijani has requested Saudi Arabia’s help to defuse tension between Iran and the U.S.

Copyright © 2006 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.

http://themedialine.org/news/news_de...p?NewsID=16427

[FastFreddy]

Wow!

Chissà quanti e da quanto glie ne staran volando sopra la testa...

[dantes76]

Originariamente inviato da FastFreddy

Wow!

Chissà quanti e da quanto glie ne staran volando sopra la testa...

non li tiravano giu' per paura dell aviaria

[FastFreddy]

Originariamente inviato da dantes76

non li tiravano giu' per paura dell aviaria

Non credo di certo che sarà stato il primo ad esser passato da quelle parti...

[dantes76]

Originariamente inviato da FastFreddy

Non credo di certo che sarà stato il primo ad esser passato da quelle parti...

Un articolo di "xinhuanet" parla di attacchi mirati in iran prima di Aprile 2007

[FastFreddy]

Originariamente inviato da dantes76

Un articolo di "xinhuanet" parla di attacchi mirati in iran prima di Aprile 2007

Può essere, chi dice il contrario?

Mi sembra strano che si tratti del primo aereo spia che abbiano inviato, il braccio di ferro con l'Iran sul nucleare è da parecchio che va avanti, tutto qua...

[LUVІ]

Nnamo bene....

LuVi

[shambler1]

Un attacco che mira a...distruggere la nazione iraniana.
Attacco "mirato" appunto.

[LUVІ]

A proposito... ma avete sentito dello scandalo che ha coinvolto il Pentagono e il suo "supermarket delle armi"? Insomma, non ho link, ma pare che ci sia una specie di "discount" dove svendono sistemi d'arma e ricambi che non usano più e dove pare ci sia libero accesso per molte figure, USA e non, che le avrebbero rivendute... bada ben bada ben bada ben, in medio oriente, in Iraq e Iran e ora pare si stiano cacando sotto perchè potrebbero anche aver rifornito di ricambi per gli F14 Iraniani che gli diedero ai tempi dello Scià

LuVi

[zuper]

Originariamente inviato da LUVІ

A proposito... ma avete sentito dello scandalo che ha coinvolto il Pentagono e il suo "supermarket delle armi"? Insomma, non ho link, ma pare che ci sia una specie di "discount" dove svendono sistemi d'arma e ricambi che non usano più e dove pare ci sia libero accesso per molte figure, USA e non, che le avrebbero rivendute... bada ben bada ben bada ben, in medio oriente, in Iraq e Iran e ora pare si stiano cacando sotto perchè potrebbero anche aver rifornito di ricambi per gli F14 Iraniani che gli diedero ai tempi dello Scià

LuVi

sparare a zero non mi pare sia produttivo...

trova il link e ripassa

[easyand]

considerando che gli F14 iraniani hanno un operatività del 50% e quel 50% che vola, vola talmente poco che sono una rarità da vedere...
Il rimanente 50% viene "cannibalizzato" per fornire ricambi al altro 50...

[franklar]

Si, effettivamente c'è poco da fare affidamento su quegli F14... semmai si vocifera che l'Iran abbia acquistato negli ultimi anni degli apparecchi più recenti dai Russi, ma non si sa niente di certo, tranne che anche se fosse vero non sarebbero certo in quantità tali da contrastare un duro attacco americano.

[franklar]

Cmq. chiedete pure ai diretti interessati http://www.irandefence.net/

[~ZeRO sTrEsS~]

Originariamente inviato da zuper

sparare a zero non mi pare sia produttivo...

trova il link e ripassa

Oh guarda un po Luvi aveva ragione

ora capisco da dove arrivano tutte le tue risposte... dal sentito dire visto che non sai fare una piccola ricerca su google


http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/0...gonsale070116/

Iran, China get gear from Pentagon sales

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 16, 2007 8:18:10 EST

The U.S. military has sold forbidden equipment at least a half-dozen times to middlemen for countries — including Iran and China — who exploited security flaws in the Defense Department’s surplus auctions. The sales include fighter jet parts and missile components.

In one case, federal investigators said, the contraband made it to Iran, a country President Bush branded part of an “axis of evil.”

In that instance, a Pakistani arms broker convicted of exporting U.S. missile parts to Iran resumed business after his release from prison. He purchased Chinook helicopter engine parts for Iran from a U.S. company that had bought them in a Pentagon surplus sale. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, speaking on condition of anonymity, said those parts made it to Iran.

The surplus sales can operate like a supermarket for arms dealers.

“Right Item, Right Time, Right Place, Right Price, Every Time. Best Value Solutions for America’s Warfighters,” the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service says on its Web site, calling itself “the place to obtain original U.S. Government surplus property.”

Federal investigators are increasingly anxious that Iran is within easy reach of a top priority on its shopping list: parts for the fleet of F-14 “Tomcat” fighter jets the U.S. let Iran buy in the 1970s when it was an ally.

In one case, convicted middlemen for Iran bought Tomcat parts from the Defense Department’s surplus division. Customs agents confiscated them and returned them to the Pentagon, which sold them again — customs evidence tags still attached — to another buyer, a suspected broker for Iran.

That incident appalled even an expert on weaknesses in Pentagon surplus security controls.

“That would be evidence of a significant breakdown, in my view, in controls and processes,” said Greg Kutz, the Government Accountability Office’s head of special investigations. “It shouldn’t happen the first time, let alone the second time.”

A Defense Department official, Fred Baillie, said his agency followed procedures.

“The fact that those individuals chose to violate the law and the fact that the customs people caught them really indicates that the process is working,” said Baillie, the Defense Logistics Agency’s executive director of distribution. “Customs is supposed to check all exports to make sure that all the appropriate certifications and licenses had been granted.”

The Pentagon recently retired its Tomcats and is shipping tens of thousands of spare parts to its surplus office — the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service — where they could be sold in public auctions. Iran is the only other country flying F-14s.

“It stands to reason Iran will be even more aggressive in seeking F-14 parts,” said Stephen Bogni, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s arms export investigations. Iran can only produce about 15 percent of the parts itself, he said.

Sensitive military surplus items are supposed to be demilitarized or “de-milled” — rendered useless for military purposes — or, if auctioned, sold only to buyers who promise to obey U.S. arms embargoes, export controls and other laws.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, found it alarmingly easy to acquire sensitive surplus. Last year, its agents bought $1.1 million worth — including rocket launchers, body armor and surveillance antennas — by driving onto a base and posing as defense contractors.

“They helped us load our van,” Kutz said. Investigators used a fake identity to access a surplus Web site operated by a Pentagon contractor and bought still more, including a dozen microcircuits used on F-14 fighters.

The undercover buyers received phone calls from the Defense Department asking why they had no Social Security number or credit history, but they deflected the questions by presenting a phony utility bill and claiming to be an identity theft victim.

The Pentagon’s public surplus sales took in $57 million in fiscal 2005. The agency also moves extra supplies around within the government and gives surplus military gear such as weapons, armored personnel carriers and aircraft to state and local law enforcement.

Investigators have found the Pentagon’s inventory and sales controls rife with errors. They say the sales are closely watched by friends and foes of the United States.

Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., called the cases “a huge breakdown, an absolute, huge breakdown.”

“The military should not sell or give away any sensitive military equipment. If we no longer need it, it needs to be destroyed — totally destroyed,” said Shays, former chairman of a House panel on national security. “The Department of Defense should not be supplying sensitive military equipment to our adversaries, our enemies, terrorists.”

It is no secret to defense experts that valuable technology can be found amid surplus scrap.

On a visit to a Defense Department surplus site about five years ago, defense consultant Randall Sweeney literally stumbled upon some that clearly should not have been up for sale.

“I was walking through a pile of supposedly de-milled electrical items and found a heat-seeking missile warhead intact,” Sweeney said, declining to identify the surplus location for security reasons. “I carried it over and showed them. I said, ‘This shouldn’t be in here.”’

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n1826724.shtml

'Sensitive' Pentagon Goods For Sale
Military Hardware, Including Items Of Use To Terrorists, Being Sold At Bargain Prices

(CBS) The story was reported by the CBS Evening News Investigative Unit's Armen Keteyian, Phil Hirschkorn and Laura Strickler.Thousands of pieces of excess military property – including items that could be deployed by criminal and terrorists – are being offered for sale to the public, according to a government report reviewed by CBS News.

Just last month, undercover investigators from the federal Government Accountability Office were able to spend over $1 million on "sensitive" items that are supposed to be destroyed.

The shopping list, fulfilled at two East Coast warehouses, included launcher mounts for shoulder-fired, "Dragon" missiles, which are used to destroy tanks, and digital signal converters used by the Navy’s E-2 "Hawkeye" early-warning aircraft.

Security at the Pentagon's liquidator's warehouses was so lax, the GAO found, that employees even helped the undercover buyers load up their vans with the goods.

Connecticut Republican Rep. Chris Shays, who chairs the House Government Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, commissioned the report, which will be released next week when he plans to hold a hearing.

"We are selling property that shouldn't be sold, and we’re selling to people we don’t know who they are," Shays said in an interview. "You're seeing things that you wouldn't the average public to get, but you certainly wouldn't want terrorists to get."

The sales are also occurring over the Internet. Just go to www.govliquidation.com, a kind of eBay just for military surplus, and you'll find everything from camouflage parkas to computer microcircuits used in the F-14 fighter jets, only a mouse click away. The items are sent to the highest bidder. In all, 19 million were sold last year.

Undercover investigators posing as private citizens were able to obtain ceramic body armor coveted by our soldiers in Iraq, and "all band" antennas that are able to track aircraft.

"The body armor could be used in terrorist or other criminal activity. Many of the other military items have weapons applications that also would be useful to terrorists," the GAO report said.

Bill Angrick, the CEO of Liquidity Services Inc., a private company that operates the Web site for the Pentagon, as well as some warehouses (though not the two the GAO visited), told CBS News that the excess property and potential buyers are cleared by the government.

"The property we receive is first inspected and verified by the DOD and determined that it is appropriate for sale to the public," Angrick said.

He said buyers must submit their Social Security numbers and are subjected to a background check by another government agency, the Trade Securities Control Agency, before they can visit one of 50 warehouses, and can only do so with an appointment.

Still, the GAO found, not only is the Pentagon liquidating materials that ought to be destroyed, it is selling much of its surplus for pennies on the dollar.

For example, investigators bought gas engines from the Pentagon excess property liquidators for $355, for which the Marines had paid $3,191. And that ceramic body armor? Bought for $129 apiece; the military paid $1,471.

The GAO found these spending and selling habits demonstrate "continuing waste and inefficiency" by the Pentagon.

"You basically have a department that can't keep track of its inventory,” Shays said. "If Wal-Mart can do it, we certainly in the government should be able to do it."

The congressman pointed in frustration to an investigator's purchase of a global positioning tool.

"When you buy a piece of equipment for over $340,000 and you sell it for $65, we’ve got a problem," Shays said. "That's quite a discount, but it is a tool, a piece of equipment, no one should have been able to buy. And they bought it over the Internet. Who the hell bought it?"

Many of the items for sale have been phased out by the U.S. military, but can still be put to lethal use, the GAO report said.

Eileen Lainez, a Defense Department spokesperson, told CBS News, "DOD is concerned about problems identified in the disposition of excess materiel. We are carefully assessing ways to eliminate errors and strengthen procedures governing these activities, and have already implemented procedures to strengthen the process."

[easyand]

se permetti questo è gran che diverso da quanto postato inizialmente, qui si dice che il pentagono avrebbe venduto all' asta dei surplus militari, comprati negli stati uniti da alcune società, che a loro volta hanno rivenduto ad altri attraverso intermediari, e questi altri hanno rivenduto a "rogue states".

Mi pare un po come la vicenda delle beretta

[FastFreddy]

Originariamente inviato da easyand

Mi pare un po come la vicenda delle beretta

Perlomeno le beretta sono armi decenti, al contrario del pattume di cui si parla sopra...

[easyand]

Originariamente inviato da FastFreddy

Perlomeno le beretta sono armi decenti, al contrario del pattume di cui si parla sopra...

si in effetti

[LUVІ]

Originariamente inviato da ~ZeRO sTrEsS~

Oh guarda un po Luvi aveva ragione

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/0...gonsale070116/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n1826724.shtml

Grazie Zero
Ero dal giudice di pace stamane, e non potevo cercare info su quello che avevo sentito su un notiziario della CBS al volo prima di uscire
Ma si sa, per certa gente l'amministrazione USA è talmente furba, grande e al di sopra di ogni sospetto dal giudicare come "cazzata" qualsiasi cosa non rientri nei loro canoni videogiocheschi del mondo.

LuVi

[~ZeRO sTrEsS~]

Originariamente inviato da easyand

se permetti questo è gran che diverso da quanto postato inizialmente, qui si dice che il pentagono avrebbe venduto all' asta dei surplus militari, comprati negli stati uniti da alcune società, che a loro volta hanno rivenduto ad altri attraverso intermediari, e questi altri hanno rivenduto a "rogue states".

Mi pare un po come la vicenda delle beretta

ma se trovi cosi furbo vendere armi a chi dovrai attaccare oppure vendere armi che poi andranno nelle mani dei terroristi davvero non so cosa aspettarmi da voi... meno male che non siete generali altrimenti avrestre perso tutte le guerre... un po come stanno facendo gli usa

[FastFreddy]

Originariamente inviato da ~ZeRO sTrEsS~

ma se trovi cosi furbo vendere armi a chi dovrai attaccare oppure vendere armi che poi andranno nelle mani dei terroristi davvero non so cosa aspettarmi da voi... meno male che non siete generali altrimenti avrestre perso tutte le guerre... un po come stanno facendo gli usa

Benchè si tratti di pattume militare, furbo non è di certo, difatti i responsabili sono sotto inchiesta.

Per quel che riguarda "perdere la guerra" se si parla dal punto di vista strettamente militare finora l'unica guerra persa è stata quella del Vietnam.
Dal punto di vista politico è un'altro paio di maniche, visto che attualmente in Iraq il problema è l'ordine pubblico...