Suicide Drone That Killed Three American Soldiers Slipped Past Air Defenses, Mistaken for US Drone

On Monday, we learned that the Iranian-proxy-launched suicide drone that killed 3 U.S. service members and injured at least 25 more evaded American air defenses as it was mistaken for a returning U.S. surveillance drone.

A U.S. official confirmed to Fox News the drone from an Iranian proxy that killed 3 American service members in Jordan and injured others got past the air defenses for Tower 22 because it was mistaken for a U.S. drone expected to return to the base at the same time.
The Wall Street Journal initially reported on this development on Monday. A U.S. official confirmed the information to Fox News.
A U.S. official told Fox News that the American drone and the attacking one were "in the vicinity" of one another.

The Biden Administration has stated that they will "take action."

President Biden has vowed to take action against Iranian-backed militants in the Middle East after the drone attack at Tower 22, a post in Jordan near Syria's border, over the weekend.
At the top of the White House daily press briefing Monday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden "met twice with the national security team yesterday, and today he's weighing the options before him." "As he said yesterday, we will respond. We'll do that on our schedule, in our time," Kirby said. "And we'll do it in a manner of the president's choosing as commander in chief. We'll also do it fully cognizant of the fact that these groups backed by Tehran have just taken the lives of American troops."

With her usual aplomb, Biden Administration spokesdroid Karine Jean-Pierre has made an utter hash of the administration's announcement in reply to the attack.

It's plausible that the drone was deliberately sent to attack the base at that time and along that angle of approach. That would imply:

The Iranian proxy militia that launched the drone understood not only the layout of the base but also the usual times and vectors of US drones.
The militia had eyes on the base during the attack to confirm any schedule changes.
The suicide drone may have been navigated visually rather than flying a programmed course, allowing it to slip in along the trajectory of the U.S. drone.

If any or all of these are true, then these roving bands of Iranian-supported terrorists have capabilities that will enable them to stage attacks like this elsewhere and to change tactics mid-stream; flexibility is a great force multiplier.

As of this writing, the Biden Administration has not announced any reprisals.

One would suspect that the response from the United States under current leadership will be tepid, at best.

It is belaboring the obvious to note that there should be consequences for attacking U.S. troops or citizens. One can argue the wisdom of the presence of U.S. troops in Jordan, but the fact is, they were there, three of them were killed by agents of Iran, and there should be a severe price to pay for such action. Failure to react with force just encourages future attacks.

This is an ongoing story; RedState will bring you updates as events warrant.