The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it intercepted and destroyed another US Army MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz, noting that heavy losses of MQ-9s have forced Washington to bring the retired MQ-1 back into service.
Issuing a statement on Monday morning, the IRGC said the MQ-1 drone was intercepted and destroyed by fire from its new advanced aerospace air defence system, operating under the control of the country's integrated air defence network, over the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement noted that the advanced drone, known as the "Beast of Kandahar" for its 20,000 flight hours over Afghanistan, has been retired from the US naval and air force order of battle for several years and was replaced by the MQ-9.
Given the destruction of a large portion of the MQ-9 fleet, the United States has once again been forced to use this drone, and by God's grace both types are being widely hunted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' new air defence system, it added.
MNA