Khaberni - A shocking scene witnessed by the American pilot whose plane was dropped by Iran, as he saw multiple Iranian drones flying in the air and moving as one body in a formation resembling "jellyfish", according to sources speaking to the American network CNN.
The pilot in the US Air Force, who was rescued by special forces after his fighter was shot down over Iran in April, talked about superior Iranian capabilities that perhaps the US intelligence does not know about.
The story shared by the F-15 fighter pilot with intelligence officials during a debriefing session after the incident stirred a storm of controversy within the American intelligence community, a controversy that has not yet been resolved, according to CNN.
According to the network, if what the pilot saw was accurate, then this would represent a very significant advancement in the capabilities of Iranian drones.
A minefield of drones
One of the sources familiar with the pilot's testimony to "CNN" said: The pilot saw "multiple interconnected drones moving as one body, with smaller drones hanging below the larger ones like legs.. something resembling real alien movies".
Another source for the network described the pilot's account as having seen what resembled "a minefield of drones" in the skies.
Sources told "CNN" that while the exact reason for the downing of the "F-15" fighter is still under investigation, initial reports suggested that the formations of drones may have somehow enabled Iran to shoot down the American fighter.
The "F-15" aircraft was carrying a crew of two: the pilot and the weapons systems officer, and the US forces immediately conducted a search and rescue operation.
The downing of the "F-15" aircraft marks a significant event, as this is the first time an American aircraft of this model has been shot down over Iranian airspace during the conflict.
The pilot was rescued after hours, while the weapons systems officer managed to hide and disappear from sight to avoid Iranian capture in the mountains for more than a day before he was also rescued, and it has not yet been clarified whether the weapons systems officer had seen the same drone formation.
It is worth noting that a second aircraft, model "A-10" (A-10), was also shot down during the rescue efforts, but its pilot managed to eject safely out of Iranian airspace.
The paradox of the second fall
American intelligence officials differed on how to interpret what the "F-15" pilot described, and whether the pilot was able to remember the incident clearly, as he suffered a concussion from the plane crash. Furthermore, this was the second time his aircraft was shot down in the airspace during the war with Iran, as he was among the pilots whose aircraft were downed in a friendly fire incident by Kuwaiti forces at the beginning of the conflict, according to CNN.
Here, officials wonder: Did the pilot witness a military capability not known to US intelligence, was it a trial test, or just a mirage?
"CNN" mentioned that the technical term for the capability described by the pilot is "overlapped networks in a one-to-many pattern" and generally, overlapped networks allow the operator to control multiple drones simultaneously.
It added that it is believed that other countries - such as Russia and China - possess this capability, and any development in the already advanced Iranian drone program would be of concern to US forces and its allies in the region.
The Iranian drones
Iran relies on swarms of drones, headed by the inexpensive "Shahed" series, launching attacks in a swarm at once aiming to engage and exhaust air defense systems, allowing some of them and missiles to reach their targets.
The "Arash" drones, which have a longer flight range and significant destructive power, have been used by Iran to target areas deep in Israel like Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Iran also possesses "Ababil" drones for suicide attacks, and "Mohajer" drones whose operational range exceeds two thousand kilometers, constituting the backbone of strategic reconnaissance and tactical strike operations.
