ISIS displayed drone in Syria.
The Syrian army shot down an ISIS spy drone in the Northern province of Aleppo today.
The terrorists’ spy drone was downed, while spying on the Syrian army troops redeployment in the village of Sifat in Northeastern Aleppo.
Enemy drone flights over Syria have increased in recent months. Mostly by the United States which has repeatedly violated Syrian air space as a matter of course over the past few years. These include incursions of the deadly Predator, RQ-4 Global Hawk and US RQ 170 stealth spy drones, which prowl the skies and are equipped with and assortment of bombs and cruise missiles.
The Syrian military is under orders not to engage US jets or drones unless they attack Syrian civilians or military sites. The idea is not to provoke the United States.
In this particular instance the Syrian military sources noted that the drone was a Skylark I.
Skylark I is a miniature unmanned aerial vehicles developed by Elbit Systems.
It is designed as a manpacked system for tactical surveillance and reconnaissance. Skylark is launched by hand. The payload consists of daylight CCD or optional FLIR for night operations. During operation, it sends real-time high-resolution images & video to a portable ground station.
It has a range of 20/40 km.
Other attributes considered unique to this type of aerial vehicle are the capability to operate ‘under the clouds’, even under severe weather conditions, and the low acoustic signature, enabling stealthy operation, particularly at night.
It is speculated that the drone was provided to ISIS either directly (or indirectly) by the United States.
This latest Syrian report is consistent with reports of ISIS drone footage appearing on Youtube.
See video: ISIS Claims To Have A Surveillance Drone in New Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkneoe23X9c
See also: ISIS shows off Jets, drone, tanks and artillery -Sept 9, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ectzJI_M544
See also video: YPG Kurdish Fighters Capture Two ISIS Drones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK5-X0hNtic
“The drone was on a spying mission above the town of Hadar when it was shot down,” the Syrian television said.