Drones Are Now Top Threat In Syria: US Air Force Shoots Down Iranian Drone

A U.S.-led coalition aircraft shot down an unmanned drone in Eastern Syria's Deir al-Zour province Saturday, months after the U.S. Central Command expressed concern over the use of weaponized drones to attack U.S. forces in the region.

“Coalition aircraft successfully engaged and defeated a UAS through air to air engagement in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Green Village," Reuters quoted coalition spokesperson U.S. Army Colonel Wayne Marotto.

While the coalition refused to reveal the type of aircraft used or other details citing security issues, a report by Aviation Week said a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle used an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to hit the UAS.

The report added that Brig. Gen. Christopher Sage, commander of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, was piloting the F-15E that fired the missile.

Though the Air Force has not disclosed the wing's location in the Middle East, some of its elements are based in Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, near the Syrian border in the eastern desert, reported Military.com.

This bears significance as the commander of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, said in April that the small-drone threat is a great concern for the coalition forces.

"Those things concern me greatly because our air defense system and our Patriots and our other radars, they’re very good at seeing the larger objects, be it ballistic missiles or be it larger land-attack cruise missiles or larger drones," he added.

"The smaller drone is a problem, and smaller drone is the future of warfare, and we need to get ahead of that right now," McKenzie said.

The comments were made just after a drone dropped TNT explosives near the U.S. forces stationed at Erbil International Airport in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Though no one was injured in the blast, this was the first known attack of its kind on the U.S. forces in the area.

In June, President Joe Biden had ordered airstrikes against three facilities on the Iraq-Syria border suspected of aiding Iran-backed militias launching drone and rocket attacks on bases housing U.S. service members in Iraq.

An unnamed defense official then told Foreign Policy that F-15 and F-16 fighter jets conducted the strikes with a mix of precision-guided munitions. He added that the sites hit were command and control and logistics hubs for piloting unmanned aerial vehicles.

The U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcons, deployed to Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, had also conducted operations to test their ability to track and destroy invading drones alongside Saudi aircraft.

Photo: US NAVY / US Navy Captain Bill Urban