Iraqi Fighter Jets Down Unmanned U.S. Spy Craft

Iraqi aircraft shot down an unmanned U.S. Predator surveillance plane Monday, marking the first time that Iraqi fighter pilots have downed an allied aircraft over a “no-fly” zone, Pentagon officials said.

The attack, which destroyed the remote-controlled aircraft, was the latest in a near-constant stream of hostile exchanges between the Iraqi military and allied air patrols in recent months.

“They attempt to shoot down all our aircraft that fly over southern and northern Iraq in support of the U.N. Security Council resolutions,” said Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “They got a lucky shot today, and they brought down the Predator.”

Both the United States and Iraq have stepped up operations in the no-fly zones, which were established over northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Repeated U.S. attacks on Iraqi antiaircraft installations and communications facilities in the zones have degraded Iraq’s air defenses, helping to create flight lanes for a potential U.S. invasion. The United States also has dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets recently warning Iraqis against firing on allied planes or repairing facilities destroyed by U.S. strikes.

Iraqi forces have fired on U.S. aircraft more than 500 times this year, almost always from the ground, Pentagon officials said. Iraqi ground fire claimed two Predator planes last year, officials said.

Iraqi warplanes have ventured into the no-fly zones at least 200 times this year, a Pentagon official said.

“The incursions are usually short and quick,” he said. “As soon as we get up, they head back.”

Iraq’s aging fleet of 300 or so Soviet-built MIGs is considered a minimal threat to U.S. and British warplanes.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he did not see the downing of the drone as an escalation.

“They’ve been making a strenuous, energetic effort to shoot down U.S. aircraft for many, many, many months now -- manned and unmanned,” he said.

But the attack Monday came at a time of mounting tension between the U.S. and Iraq, with the U.S. military preparing to deploy as many as 50,000 additional troops to the Gulf region in January.

The Predator, downed over the southern no-fly zone, was part of a fleet operated by Air Force pilots based in Kuwait. The low-flying craft is a relatively easy target, with a wingspan of about 49 feet and a top speed of 140 mph. Each aircraft costs $3.7 million.