Iran says it warns off fighters, drones during drill
An Iranian general said Wednesday that his country’s air defenses have warned off several fighter jets and drones during an ongoing military drill.
“In the past three days of military drills, the air defense has given warnings to 12 aircraft of trans-regional countries to stay away from the country’s airspace.” Gen. Abbas Farajpour was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Tasnim, which is close to Iran’s military, said the aircraft included U.S. fighter jets and drones.
Calls to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, rang unanswered Dec. 28. In recent months, the 5th Fleet has complained about interactions with Iran’s military at sea and in the air.
Iranian air defense units began an exercise involving 17,000 personnel stationed over 496,000 square kilometers (190,000 square miles) in southern Iran on Monday.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said troops taking part in the drill test-fired a long-range S-200 surface-to-air missile, destroying a drone. AP
Second flight recorder recovered from Black Sea crash site
The Russian Defense Ministry says search teams have recovered another flight recorder from a military plane that crashed in the Black Sea, killing all 92 aboard.
The ministry said the second recorder was lifted from the seabed Dec. 28. The first flight recorder was found the previous day and experts have started analyzing its data to determine the crash's cause.
The Tu-154 of the Russian Defense Ministry crashed into the sea early Dec. 25, two minutes after taking off in good weather from the city of Sochi. It was carrying members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, widely known as the Red Army Choir, to a New Year's concert at a Russian military base in Syria.
The Defense Ministry says 17 bodies and 223 body fragments have been recovered from the crash site. AP