This is gold...
I'm much more familiar with land mines than sea mines, but a cursory search shows that sea mines also have (or can have) anti-handling devices. As such, I'd add that into the equation. An anti-handling device touches off the mine if you, well, handle it. Seeing those guys just pluck the unexploded one off the side makes me think they are pretty familiar with the mine, or they are suicidal. On land, anti-mine operations when they mine can't be blown in place is a time consuming and laborious task since mistakes tend to be rather costly. Even in training and handling an AT mine that *I* rigged the anti-handling device on and buried myself it wasn't what I'd consider an easy task.
Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.
From Military.com:
An Iranian small attack craft fired a surface to-air missile (SAM) at a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone this week, a senior defense official said on background Friday. The incident happened in the general area where explosions crippled two tankers in the Gulf of Oman Thursday, the official said.
The official also confirmed a report from CNN that a SAM allegedly fired by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen shot down an MQ-9 over the Red Sea earlier this week.
The two alleged attacks against U.S. assets by Iran and an Iranian proxy group are the first against the U.S. military to be confirmed since the U.S. began building up forces in the region last month. The White House accelerated the dispatch of an aircraft carrier to the Gulf region in May, charging that Iran was planning an offensive against U.S. forces and interests in the region.
"There was an MQ-9 in the vicinity" overhead where the tankers Front Adair and Kokuka Courageous were proceeding in the Gulf Thursday, the official said. The SAM that missed the Reaper was fired from an Iranian patrol craft, the official added.
"Sapiens dicit: 'Ignoscere divinum est, sed noli pretium plenum pro pizza sero allata solvere.'" - Michelangelo
From BBC News:
The IRGC said its air force shot down the US drone in the early hours of Thursday after the unmanned aircraft violated Iranian airspace near Kuhmobarak in the southern province of Hormozgan.
The drone was identified by the IRGC as a RQ-4 Global Hawk, but the US military official told Reuters news agency the drone was a US Navy MQ-4C Triton, a maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft based on the RQ-4B Global Hawk.
"Sapiens dicit: 'Ignoscere divinum est, sed noli pretium plenum pro pizza sero allata solvere.'" - Michelangelo
I'm cogitating an appropriate response. Assuming the drone was in international waters and that there is irrefutable proof of this, something must be done. It seems that whatever choice is made, it will be the best of some mighty poor options. My knee jerk reaction is to select an Iranian war ship that was involved in the minings and/or the shoot down, give the crew 20 minutes to abandon ship, and then send it to the bottom. Perhaps cooler heads will prevail.
Isn't one of the added benefits of using UA's is that there is no loss of life in a shoot down? No need for a strike back out of honor or spite? Eff em, send them the bill, sue for damages, whatever.
It's up to us to restrain from kicking over the next domino in this stupid game.