Did Flightradar Expose Iranian Missile Systems Following Data Leak?

The image depicts a hypothetical war scenario, not a Flightradar data leak (X)

Social media users circulated a claim that the coordinates of all Iranian air defense systems were leaked and posted on Flightradar24.

The posts included an image purportedly showing a Flightradar screenshot of Iran’s secret air defense sites after being exposed on the platform.

The coordinates of all Iranian air defense systems were leaked and posted on Flightradar24.

Did Flightradar Publish Iranian Air Defense Sites?

Misbar’s team at Al-Araby TV investigated the circulating claim and found that the image does not show the locations of Iran’s secret air defense systems on Flightradar.

A technical comparison between the real Flightradar interface and the circulated image revealed significant differences, confirming that the image was taken from a military simulation program, not the actual site.

Key evidence includes technical details visible in the image, such as the graphics card type, “RTX 3090,” and the number of processing units, “AU Count,” displayed in the top bar—information that never appears in civil aviation tracking applications.

The top bar also shows graphics processing data, including “GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090” and “Pulse Time: 286ms,” which are indicators of the simulation engine processing a large number of military units.

Additionally, the icons in the image follow NATO standards for representing ground targets and do not resemble civil aircraft icons used on air traffic tracking platforms.

The image also shows a fictional date and a countdown for a “mission” within the program, confirming that it is a virtual scenario created in a simulation environment, unrelated to real-world intelligence.

Did Flightradar Publish Iranian Air Defense Sites? — On the left, a screenshot of the Flightradar website; on the right, the image circulating on social media.

Technical analysis confirmed that the map was created using the professional military simulation program Command: Modern Operations (CMO), a system used by enthusiasts and analysts to test modern warfare scenarios.

modern warfare scenarios

A detailed review of a video simulating a virtual airstrike on Iran using the same program matched the circulated image exactly, further proving the falsehood of the claims attributed to Flightradar.

The image corresponds with the program’s environment, using blue square symbols following NATO standards to represent radars and missiles, and red and yellow “range circles” showing the operational coverage of air defenses.

The map style, based on Sentinel satellite imagery, matches the background in the circulated image, reinforcing that the scene comes from a simulation environment rather than a civil aviation tracking platform. Sentinel Hub provides satellite imagery access and processing services, not civil flight tracking.

The technical information bar in the top-right corner offers decisive proof, showing the program engine’s “fingerprint,” including computer specifications, number of active units (“AU Count” – 2,067), and data update time (“Pulse Time”) of 286 milliseconds—details unrelated to civil aviation tracking.

All evidence indicates that the image is a screenshot of a hypothetical war scenario, with a start date set to February 20, 2026, for misleading purposes. It has no connection to civil aviation tracking platforms, which neither have the capability nor the authorization to display such military data.

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