Iranian AWACS Loss

[fgentges at mindspring.com]

Oh My!  It seems the Iranian AWACS airplane got involved in a mid-air 
crash and was destroyed. This must be an important loss for their 
military.  I don't think they can make their own.

The following is from DEBKA.

23 Sept. Up above a big military parade in Tehran on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 
as Iranian president declared Iran's armed forces would chop off the 
hands of any power daring to attack his country, two air force jets 
collided in mid-air - one Iran's only airborne warning and control 
system (AWACS) for coordinating long-distance aerial operations, 
DEBKAfile's military and Iranian sources disclose.
As the soldiers marched past, followed by a line of Shehab-3 missiles 
and an air force fly-past, planned to give Ahmadinejad a dazzling 
send-off for New York and add steel to his UN Assembly speech, the 
AWACS' collided with one of escorting planes, a US-made F-5E. Both 
crashed to the ground in flames. All seven crewmen were killed.
The loss of this airborne control system has left Iran's air force and 
air and missile defenses without "electronic eyes" for surveillance of 
the skies around its borders.