Iran Captures US Spy Drone

[CabbE30]

Not sure if anyone has payed attention to these stories.

Cyber experts, Pentagon skeptical Iran brought down U.S. drone

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/cyber-experts-pentagon-skeptical-iran-brought-down-u-205358251.html;_ylt=AmVpiwt8M8YAUFsFoaJUgyLyWed_;_ylu=X3oDMTFkNWJ1MDBuBG1pdANCbG9nIEJvZHkEcG9zAzMEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0JvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTNicWxwcnRmBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDYTAxYzU5YzAtMGQ2YS0zN2I0LTkxYjItOTc3OWFiOTdlYzQ3BHBzdGNhdANvcmlnaW5hbHN8dGhlZW52b3kEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3#more-5901

Turns out they were wrong.

Iran releases video of downed U.S. spy drone–looking quite intact

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/iran-releases-images-downed-u-spy-drone-171144210.html

Sorry if repost or in wrong forum.

[CabbE30]

Iran's Press TV on Thursday broadcast an extended video tour of the U.S. spy drone that went down in the country late last week--and it indeed looks to be intact.

American officials have acknowledged that an unmanned U.S. reconnaissance plane was lost on a mission late last week, but have insisted that there is no evidence the drone was downed by hostile acts by Iran. Rather, they said, the drone likely went down because of a malfunction, and they implied the advanced stealth reconnaissance plane would have fallen from a high altitude--the RQ-170 Sentinel can fly as high as 50,000 feet--and as a result, wouldn't be in good shape.

Iranian military officials have claimed since Sunday they brought down an intact American spy drone--and now they are giving tours of the drone, in what is sure to be another humiliating poke in the eye for U.S. national security agencies.

"On Sunday December 4, the Iranian Army's electronic warfare unit downed the US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft which was flying over the Iranian city of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225km) from the Afghan border," Iran's Press TV said in its report Thursday.

The New York Times reported Thursday that--unsurprisingly--the RQ-170 was lost while making the latest foray over Iran during an extended CIA surveillance effort of Iran's nuclear and ballistic weapons program.
"The overflights by the bat-winged RQ-170 Sentinel, built by Lockheed Martin and first glimpsed on an airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2009, are part of an increasingly aggressive intelligence collection program aimed at Iran, current and former officials say," the Times' Scott Shane and David Sanger wrote. "The urgency of the effort has been underscored by a recent public debate in Israel about whether time is running out for a military strike to slow Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon."

Iran in turn has complained that the drone flights represent an act of aggression and violation of its sovereignty, and summoned the Swiss envoy--who represents U.S. interests in Iran--to register its complaints.
The video tour may also be a move to bid up the price Iran could receive for sharing the highly sophisticated American stealth drone technology with countries such as China and Russia.

[M-technik-3]

Iran trying to get some sympathy votes before they get another sanction. Yeah we spy on them, via humint and electronically heck they collect on us as well.

That thing they showed is most likely a mock up.

Should yow this over to Politics.

[tjts1]

Yeah I bet the Iranians are feeling pretty damn confident right now, just the way we want them.

That thing they showed is most likely a mock up.

Its not a mock up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiXlHtBMejg

[Kershaw]

i didnt see any damage. how did they shoot it down again?

lol, most likely malfunctioned and glided down.

[Vedubin01]

They are designed to auto land in a place it finds suitable to land when losing contact with the pilot. Just happened to be over IRAN.

[tjts1]

i didnt see any damage. how did they shoot it down again?

lol, most likely malfunctioned and glided down.

Iranians claim their electronic warfare people took it down. Iran took delivery of some interesting new Russian equipment recently.

http://pakconnects.blogspot.com/2011/10/russian-radar-sniffers-has-delivered-to.html

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2011
Moscow has sold Iran the highly-advanced Avtobaza truck-mounted systems which are capable of jamming aircraft radar and the electronic guidance instruments of attacking missiles. The detectors, called 1L222 Avtobaza, passively collect electromagnetic radiation from surrounding airspace and identify its sources. Those include side-looking airborne radars used in combat aircraft, targeting radars of air-to-surface weapons, and radars used to guide aircraft flying at extremely low altitudes.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2011/12/avtobaza-irans-weapon-in-rq-17.html

They are designed to auto land in a place it finds suitable to land when losing contact with the pilot. Just happened to be over IRAN.

That would be fucking retarded if you're flying missions over IRAN.

[Vedubin01]

That would be fucking retarded if you're flying missions over IRAN.

Ill see if I can find some information on this.... Due to cost of the drone it has a set landing default in hopes of recovery.

But yeah I agree with ya. It should self destruct.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Also, keep in mind, our top shelf avoidance systems and designs were not part of this vehicle because the designers knew it would be taken into enemy hands eventually. My bet is we left some eight or ten year old equipment in this beast to leak a concept of what we have, when it is more likely what we've had in the past.

[tjts1]

Also, keep in mind, our top shelf avoidance systems and designs were not part of this vehicle because the designers knew it would be taken into enemy hands eventually. My bet is we left some eight or twn year old equipment in this beast to leak a concept of what we have, when it is more likely what we've had in the past.

This is very likely. I haven't seen a grill like that over the intakes of a stealth aircraft since the 1970s era F117. I'm sure it was designed with possible capture in mind. We also have a pretty good grasp of what their defenses are capable of.

[Vedubin01]

rumors swirling around on the military forums are either when Lockheed Martin was hacked severely a few months ago, intelligence could have been leaked that would give Russia and or China the ability to hack into the flight system.

Or that this was meant to be set down in Iran, as a Trojan Horse.


None of the pictures show the landing gears of the Drone, most likely because Iran does not want to show it was not shot down as they claim.

[ReallyDirtyThirty]

It is incredibly frustrating that we're spending over $700 billion a year to have the best weapsons systems in the world only to give them away to other countries for free. This drone in a Iran and the helicopter in Pakistan are inexcusable failures by our intelligence leaders.

[tjts1]

None of the pictures show the landing gears of the Drone, most likely because Iran does not want to show it was not shot down as they claim.

But Iran doesn't claim it was shot down.

"On Sunday December 4, the Iranian Army's electronic warfare unit downed the US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft which was flying over the Iranian city of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225km) from the Afghan border," Iran's Press TV said in its report Thursday.

They certainly had the equipment to get the job done without firing a single shot. I doubt the operators were even Iranian.

It is incredibly frustrating that we're spending over $700 billion a year to have the best weapsons systems in the world only to give them away to other countries for free. This drone in a Iran and the helicopter in Pakistan are inexcusable failures by our intelligence leaders.

It wouldn't be the first time.

[Vedubin01]

early reports did say it was shot down....



12-07-11
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/wo...d.html?_r=1&hp

Iranian officials have said that the aircraft was detected near the town of Kashmar, 140 miles from the Afghan border, and that it was shot down or crashed because its control systems were hacked by the Iranian military. American officials say that those stories are fanciful, and that the drone was lost because of a malfunction.

[Vedubin01]

It is incredibly frustrating that we're spending over $700 billion a year to have the best weapsons systems in the world only to give them away to other countries for free. This drone in a Iran and the helicopter in Pakistan are inexcusable failures by our intelligence leaders.

Its OK, our Government is more interested in running guns to Mexico than protecting national interests.