And it begins...

USS Abraham Lincoln SG is currently 500nm SOUTH of Iran...

A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday, threatening to ramp up tensions as the Trump administration warns of possible military action to get Iran to the negotiating table.

The drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and “continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters,” Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement Tuesday.

Full article HERE from Military Times.

Of note, this was a drone, not a manned aircraft, and there are questions how many of those aircraft the Iranians actually have that are flyable.

This crap brings back memories of the BEAREXs we used to have to deal with. That was when a USSR Bear or May would close the strike group, trying to sneak in and get pictures/close approach the ships. The standard response was to use F-14s to ‘push’ the Bear/May out by maneuvering to block them, but the US reserved the right to fire on those aircraft if they did not turn away.

It is apparent in this case, the drone didn’t turn away, so the Iranians were ‘testing’ the US resolve, checking to see if they would actually shoot it down. Now they know...

The Shahed 139 does have a missile capability, in addition to being capable of EO/IR surveillance, with a range of approximately 2000nm. This is not a ‘throwaway’ drone. It appears the Iranians are ‘claiming’ it was actually a Shahed 129, but they don’t have the range to go out 500nm and make it back to shore, so that doesn’t make sense. Also, I’d trust the visual ID of the pilots over the Iranians. I’m betting there are pictures and video of the drone and the shoot, not that we’ll ever see it.