Two days before the Iranian attack on the U.S. Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia, 14 Russian reconnaissance satellites flew over it. The data they collected may have helped Iran carry out a precise strike and destroy a Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft, CNN reports, writes UNN.
Details
The television network analyzed orbital data together with specialists from Project Aurora and Cahan Space. Among the spacecraft was "Kosmos-2573," capable of obtaining detailed images of military facilities, as well as 8 electronic intelligence satellites, 2 spacecraft with infrared sensors, and 3 radar satellites.
According to experts, the spacecraft were moving in a sequence that made it possible to collect different types of intelligence simultaneously. In particular, they could have recorded the movements of the E-3 Sentry, which was not at its usual base.
CNN has no evidence that the data was transferred to Iran
On March 27, Iran destroyed an E-3 Sentry, which is used for long-range radar detection and control. CNN sources believe that the scale of the destruction at the base and the precision of the Iranian strikes would have been difficult to achieve without geospatial intelligence.
At the same time, CNN emphasizes that it does not have Russian satellite imagery and has found no direct evidence that information from these 14 satellites was transferred to Iran.
Earlier, The Washington Post, citing sources familiar with intelligence data, reported that Russia had provided Iran with information for strikes against U.S. forces in the Middle East.