US shoots down Iranian drone approaching aircraft carrier, official says

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-shoots-down-iranian-drone-approaching-aircraft-carrier-official-says-2026-02-03/

36 Comments

  1. apparently It’s called a suicide drone because it’s the IRGC mean of suicide

    edit: guys, it was a pun

  2. Full story text:

    >Feb 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. military shot down on Tuesday an Iranian drone that approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday.
    The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying towards the carrier and was shot down by a F-35 U.S. fighter jet.

    Edit: There isn’t a lot on the Shahed-139 online, but the Intl Institute for Strategic Studies [reported in 2023](https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/military-balance/2023/11/far-from-museum-pieces-iranian-missile-munition-and-uav-ambition-on-display/) that it is the upgrade to the [Shahed-129](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahed_129), meant to be comparable in role to MQ-1 predators.

  3. On top of trying to stop US tankers, they are also sending drones towards a US Carrier? It is almost like they don’t want to make it to the Friday talks.

  4. Extra-Sector-7795 on

    what ukraine and i believe Russia did recently was send lots of cheap drones to exhaust the very expensive defenses then send in the ones with bombs. the nature of warfare has changed a greater deal. i would be surprised if ships didn’t start staying far out at sea

  5. I would be very surprised if the drone got past the zone of defense far away from the carrier. Also don’t know why one of the destroyers didn’t get it and it had to be done by the carriers F-35. This is the literal job of the destroyers that surround the carrier.

  6. Loitering munitions? Or is this a normal intel drone? 139 is the kaboom drone right? I should know this i have a massive database but im too tired to check lol

  7. A single drone isn’t enough for a real attack or 3rd party false flag. That is a probing attack to test response times to do the math necessary to see if drone-swarming the carrier and sending it to the ocean floor is a realistic possibility with the resources available.

    Russian ships near shore have not fared so well in the Ukraine war, but it is an open question if drones can take down an advanced, powerful, and well-guarded target like a US aircraft carrier. Let’s hope, for everyone’s sake, that cooler heads prevail and no one tries to answer that question in the coming weeks.

  8. _cyberbabyangel_ on

    Note y’all, it was a surveillance drone, not a one way as we’ve seen being used by Russia in Ukraine. F-35 shot it down after attempting to have it divert course and deescalate as it was approaching the carrier. This was not a potential attack on a carrier, going off of known information.

    There was also an attempted boarding earlier today by IRGC gun boats towards a US flagged tanker in the Straight of Hormuz. It did not stop and met up with a USN boat for an escort. Two noticeable events leading up to ‘talks’ on Friday.

  9. CNN: A peaceful good intentioned drone approached the occupational USS Abraham Lincoln. It was wrongfully attacked and genocided.

  10. Using a $400k missile to shoot down a $40k drone? they should be practicing with their 25mm guns.

    Fully loading an F-35A’s 182-round internal magazine costs roughly $23,580.