Iranian P-3F Orion Buzzes US Flat Top

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 02/01/2014 at 16:43 • Filed to: planelopnik

0

8

Earlier this week, I !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! some photos that purported to show US F/A-18E Super Hornets from the USS Abraham Lincoln escorting an Iranian P-3F Orion near the US carrier. New photos have emerged showing just how close the Iranians are getting to the carrier in the Strait of Hormuz. There's no indication if these photos are from the same event, or if this is a different event. But it allays some of the doubts about the authenticity of the earlier photos, as the paint scheme on the Orion in these photos matches that of the earlier pics. Either way, the Iranians are getting pretty close.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Photos: U.S. Navy via Militaryphotos.net via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Bandit > ttyymmnn 02/01/2014 at 16:47

2

f86sabre > ttyymmnn 02/01/2014 at 17:03

1

The plane flew by one way and then the other? Something smells fishy.

JustWaitingForAMate > ttyymmnn 02/01/2014 at 17:20

0

There has to be more to this story we're not being told.

McMike > f86sabre 02/01/2014 at 17:28

1

No, everything is going as planned.

M54B30 > ttyymmnn 02/01/2014 at 18:07

0

I would've never guessed the Navy would allow an enemy country's spy plane to even get that close.

ttyymmnn > M54B30 02/01/2014 at 18:21

1

Though there is precious little information about this event, I'm guessing that this took place in International Waters. Iran has long claimed the Strait of Hormuz, and most of the Persian Gulf, as Iranian territory. The US only recognizes the 12 mile territorial waters that were defined in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea . With the enormous amount of oil transported through the strait, it is in everybody's interest to keep it open, and in Iran's to control it. Once in the Persian Gulf, ships are in International Waters. Now, I don't know what sort of rules dictate how close you can fly to somebody else's shipping, but all holy hell would ensue if the US shot this plane down. It's possible that Iran may be wishing them to do so. If the US commander deemed this plane a threat, I'm sure he would act. I may be wrong, but this looks a lot like the sort of cat and mouse games played during the Cold War between the US and USSR. Now, if that plane were an attack plane, armed with anti-shipping missiles, it may be a different story, though the Orion is capable of carrying such ordnance.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > ttyymmnn 02/01/2014 at 18:56

0

I'm guessing old photos.

ttyymmnn > John Norris (AngryDrifter) 02/01/2014 at 18:59

1

Probably at least two years. The first batch of photos to come out identified the carrier as the Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln was last in the Persian Gulf in 2012, and is currently in Newport News being refueled.