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If a strike aircraft were that close to a sensitive military installation (by accounts: missile R&D facility) then it could launch weapons at any second. There
by ethbro 7y ago
If a strike aircraft were that close to a sensitive military installation (by accounts: missile R&D facility) then it could launch weapons at any second.
There likely wasn't "human-scale" time to confirm identity. And specifically against a US adversary with stealth technology, it would make sense to have automated air defense systems on a hair trigger and human air defense systems with extremely liberal RoE.
What seems like it should have happened is that the international airport grounded all outbound traffic and parked all non-emergency inbound traffic in holding, until such time as Iranian air defenses could relax their posture to guarantee safety.
- Stratoscope 7y ago> extremely liberal RoE For anyone unfamiliar with the term, "RoE" stands for "Rules of Engagement". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_engagement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_engagement
- metanoia 7y agoI've wondered if this flight was the first departing flight for the day at 6:15 AM, so the first radar track headed towards the R&D facility and thus the "scenario fulfillment" they'd been waiting for all night (as mentioned by another poster).