Iranian drone ops
Found a story from last year. It provides some insight as to the operating environment.
https://news.usni.org/2018/03/19/u-...-ground-iranian-drones-make-daily-appearances
“Aside from the evolving offensive nature of the mission, the defensive side has changed too. Koehler said the carrier strike group encounters large Iranian drones nearly every day. While there is nothing the Navy can do about the presence of these drones – while operating in the maritime common, anyone is free to be there – the current discussion is how much effort to expend on monitoring the activities and location of these drones, and how the Navy might respond if Iran were to begin arming them.
“Even if they’re unarmed, it’s a safety of flight problem. So no matter what altitude they’re at, we have airplanes operating too. So can we communicate with them in the ground station and will they respond? And we see that they do sometimes and they don’t sometimes,” Koehler said in a sit-down interview in his cabin.
But Iran arming them would be a “whole new game,” the admiral said.
“Is flying over hostile? I certainly don’t want it here if it’s in a position to drop any sort of weapons. Trying to determine that is very difficult, a very hard job.
Asked how his strike group has dealt with the potential threat of the drones, and how he would recommend future strike group commanders approach the situation, Koehler said, “I’d like to have the ability to have sound rules – like, stay away from our airplane stacks; we’re not trying to hit you, you don’t try (to hit us). The fact that, if it’s cruising around at 10,000 feet and we’re at 10,000 feet, it’s hard to see it, let’s not hit each other. I will say that it seems they’re fairly predictable, and they’re flying fairly predictable. Once they get here, they loiter forever, but they sort of stay at the same altitude and we can sort of keep track. And the fact that they’re unarmed that we’ve seen is good. They’re obviously looking at us, ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), and they have the ability to track us and all those things, but unarmed.”
Koehler said Bunker Hill had done an excellent job tuning its radars to see the drones as clearly and as early as possible, and for future carriers having to accept these drones as part of their new reality while in the Persian Gulf, Koehler said “I think a lot of it comes with vigilance. We have a pretty good idea where they come from, and so having radars and those things trained on that particular area, (the next CSG should) vigilantly ensure that your radars are set and looking for that level of slow, small vehicle. … Realizing that they’re going to come nearly every day, and you’ve got to really continue to search for them all the time. … You’ve really got to just put the time in and dedicate the assets and the team to look for them and find them. And then really ascertain, at least for me, I want to know that they’re not armed.”