U-2 Spy Plane down in SW Asia

There is not much on this as yet. The US Air Force has not disclosed the location of the crash, the cause nor the welfare of the pilot

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. U-2 spy plane has crashed in southwest Asia, but the military has not disclosed the location of the crash or any of the circumstances.

CNN

BBC

okMSNBC

It will be interesting to find out where this plane was and what caused the
crash. I am hoping that the pilot is ok.

[Edited to add the MSNBC Link]

[edit on 22-6-2005 by kenshiro2012]

Wow, big news.

Thanks for the post Kenshiro. I'll be keeping up on this.

I think if it has crashed in India then all hell would break loose.

Now it is being reported on FoxNews. Unfortunately, still very tight lipped and the US Central Cammand is not giving any information other than ackowledging that they have lost the U-2
FoxNews

Training flight or Operational i wonder?
Korea perhaps? Hope the pilots ok. If he had to eject from high altitude can be a huge stress on the body.

Well I am only assuming here now, If the report is also coming out of Baghdad, I am thinking that the plane was lost in the Iran / Iraq area.

Ouch, if he was shot down there could be a bit of an international incident in the air.
Do the Iranians have the missile tech to bring down a U2?

[edit on 22-6-2005 by Janus]

It's probably going to be an international incident anyhow considering that the U-2 is a Spy Plane. It depends on what the mission was.
As for Iran or someone having the tech to take one down, possible but not probable. Remember the incident in Cuba back in the 60's.

this is an interesting event as a "spy" planes has not been brought down (with public knowledge) since the P-3 event with china. Any one know what stealth spy has to say yet on the subject. this will be rub in our faces longtime. hope the pilots ok though.

[edit on 22-6-2005 by Canada_EH]

I am going to guess iran for sure. I am not sure whether this was an accident or not, but which other country in SW Asia will US want intelligence on?

Id be more inclined to say mechanical fault then, the U2 is getting a bit long in the tooth. Still if he is down over Iran the US will rightly want to keep a lid on it at least till they extract him.
Plus the Iranians would be crowing over something like this, if they shot him down.

]

[edit on 22-6-2005 by Janus]

Very interesting, good find
I think the plane might have been out of South Korea, Osan AB.
They have U2's there all the time, it's really no big secret.

Here's a few pictures I took last year at Osan AB enrout to the Philippines.

Oh let's see now which countries would the US want to keep an eye on in that area?
Iran
Syria,
Libya,
Iraq,
Afghanistan
Just to name a few. How legit such observations are is anyone's guess.

I would say Iran, seems he was out of Bagdad as you said.

Bagdad

so because of the location (By location i mean general area) it was lost in is it more realistic to think it was shotdown or a problem with the plane? I personally think that a problem with the plane is harder to belive the plane has a huge glide radius though if it was deep into enemy airspace it would of had more trouble gliding out. so thinking of the options that i woudl think are open to what happened im starting to lean towards a missile shotdown.


[edit on 22-6-2005 by Canada_EH]

Ah yes Osan AB. was stationed there for 4 years worked across from the U-2 BlackBird facilities. My Brother-inlaw actually worked on the photgraphic imaging of the birds. He is still there now.

Its was probably a Recon Mission over Iran, if You ask me.

I would think that Iran has some New High Altitude SAM Systems.

Probably Russian.

Seems somethings a bit fishy about all this...somethings up behind the scenes

Central Command gave no details of the plane's mission, and said the cause of the crash and the condition of the pilot were currently unknown.

"The specific location is not releasable due to host nation sensitivities," US Air Force Capt David W Small, a Central Command spokesman, told the news agency.

AP says south-west Asia is a phrase often used by the US military to refer to the Middle East.

BBC Latest / Source


So we know that it was lost some time ago, that it happened over a area with host sensitivities in the middle east. That is somewhere where after knowing it happened they have been unable to go and attempt a rescue or investigate.

Only really Iran fits the bill and would explain this.

Regards
Elf

Originally posted by Canada_EH
so because of the location (By location i mean general area) it was lost in is it more realistic to think it was shotdown or a problem with the plane? I personally think that a problem with the plane is harder to belive the plane has a huge glide radius though if it was deep into enemy airspace it would of had more trouble gliding out. so thinking of the options that i woudl think are open to what happened im starting to lean towards a missile shotdown.


[edit on 22-6-2005 by Canada_EH]

If the Cockpit suffered sudden decompression he may not have had the time to glide in. He may have chosen to eject. We will probb never know the truth of it.

"The specific location is not releasable due to host nation sensitivities," US Air Force Capt David W Small, a Central Command spokesman, told the agency.

AP says south-west Asia is a phrase often used by the US military to refer to the Middle East.

BBC

I tend to agree with Janus in regard to the cause being mechanical fault.
But, whatever the cause, this is a big 'incident'.

Sanc'.