Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency says the country's armed forces have shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that violated Iranian airspace along its eastern border.

The report says the plane was an RQ170 type drone and is now in the possession of Iran's armed forces. The Fars news agency is close to the powerful Revolutionary Guard.

Iran is locked in a dispute with the U.S. and its allies over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at the development of nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.


RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone

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Re: Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

Iran threatens retaliation after drone shot down

Iran's military said on Sunday it had shot down a US reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran and warned it would retaliate on foreign soil for the incursion.

"Iran's military has downed an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran," Iran's Arabic-language Al Alam state television network quoted the unnamed source as saying.

"The spy drone, which has been downed with little damage, was seized by the Iranian armed forces."
...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8934086/Iran-threatens-retaliation-after-drone-shot-down.html

[Eddo211]

Re: Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

Looks like Iran did in fact captured (not shotdown) a CIA operated stealth UAV RQ-170.....they are saying that they hacked into its flight program, took control of it, and landed (gear up) the UAV with minimum damage.
Zendeh baud Irane mah.

The banner below the UAV in the video says "We will put the USA under our feet"

OK, so we shotdown an Israeli made drone and Iran captures an American drone.

[Sip]

Re: Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

I wonder if they befriended the drone on facebook first then got it to click on the link that hacked into the internals heheheeh

[Mos]

Re: Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

Good job Iran. Maybe we should share experiences with the Iranians

The West underestimates Iran too much. I would even support us warming military ties with Iran, even if it means some rupture in Western relations.

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Re: Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

Looks like Iran did in fact captured (not shotdown) a CIA operated stealth UAV RQ-170.....they are saying that they hacked into its flight program, took control of it, and landed (gear up) the UAV with minimum damage.

No their didn't, as that thing certainly isn't a RQ-170. It's either an Iranian made fiberglass, mock up or more likely some kind of US Air defence probe that 'inadvertently' strayed into Iran from some base in Afghanistan.

I doubt the Iranians hacked it's encrypted communication and took control of it and it's more likely that it suffered some kind of a technical failure and lost power.

[Eddo211]

Re: Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

No their didn't, as that thing certainly isn't a RQ-170. It's either an Iranian made fiberglass, mock up or more likely some kind of US Air defence probe that 'inadvertently' strayed into Iran from some base in Afghanistan.

I doubt the Iranians hacked it's encrypted communication and took control of it and it's more likely that it suffered some kind of a technical failure and lost power.

Any technical or engine failure will end in a major crash,, even with the default commands of RTB....the UAV looks like the real deal with my trained eyes in aviation, don't listen to all them skeptics who think they know what they are talking about on the web.

btw, it has been almost confirmed by the US

CBS News) A U.S. official tells CBS News that there is "high confidence" that a captured American aircraft shown on Iranian television today is, in fact, one of this country's most sophisticated spy planes.


The Pentagon declined to comment, but the American official says analysis of the video confirms the RQ-170 unmanned drone was captured. Exactly how that happened is still being analyzed......

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57339834/u.s-official-iran-does-have-our-drone/

[retro]

Re: Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

Any technical or engine failure will end in a major crash,, even with the default commands of RTB....the UAV looks like the real deal with my trained eyes in aviation, don't listen to all them skeptics who think they know what they are talking about on the web.

btw, it has been almost confirmed by the US

Flying wing are inherently unstable, so maybe it flight system malfunctioned and it gilded down. Do you think that if the Americans ask them nicely, that the Iranians will give them their kite back.

John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org told CNN that he guessed that the "drone" showed was a mock-up prepared for a parade, noting that the wings in the video droop down, while a real drone would have higher wings in the center. However, military aviation expert Bill Sweetman told CNN he believed that the drone displayed was real. Sweetman stated that it was most likely that the Iranians did not shoot down the plane (citing the lack of burn marks, holes, or outward damage), or hack into the system. Instead, Sweetman told CNN that a system failure downed the plane, and that the plane could be intact from a what is known as a "flat spin" or "falling leaf departure," which would result in damage to the belly of the aircraft but little damage to other components. Sweetman noted a dent along the leading edge of the aircraft, noting that "The question is did that happen in the accident or whether they took them off to move the aircraft."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockhee...Q-170_Sentinel

[Eddo211]

Re: Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

Flying wing are inherently unstable, so maybe it flight system malfunctioned and it gilded down.

in order to glide under control you need your flight control system functional....there is no other way.

From you wiki link

that a system failure downed the plane, and that the plane could be intact from a what is known as a "flat spin" or "falling leaf departure," which would result in damage to the belly of the aircraft but little damage to other components.

If an aircraft cannot recover from a flat spin (or any type of spin) then it will end up leaving a crater on the ground or disintegrate over water.....there is no such term as "falling leaf departure" in civilian or military aviation terms.

This UAV seems to have made a controlled emergency landing off field gears up.......bragging rights for Iranians either way you look at it.

[retro]

Re: Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane

I don't know flying wings are good gliders and these drones are very lightweight. Either way, this incident plays well for the Iranians and their cronies.

....The officials said that, depending on the real condition of the wreckage, Chinese or Russian access to the drone is a much greater concern than a possible Iranian effort to reverse-engineer the RQ-170, which they said is unlikely given the drone’s special coatings and other materials.

As for its stealthy shape, they said, an RQ-170 has been photographed, and basic stealth shape and skin technology is now some 35 years old.

The officials said that the loss of the RQ-170 is a warning about the limitations of drone technology and the dangers of relying too heavily on it.

First, they said, although the newest drones are being designed to operate autonomously, they still need to navigate by communicating with global positioning satellites, and those communications, the satellites and ground stations are vulnerable to jamming and deception, by sophisticated enemies.

In recent years, one of the officials said, computer hackers thought to be part of extensive Chinese or Russian cyber espionage efforts have attacked the computer networks of numerous defence contractors, including Lockheed Martin; broken into two satellite ground stations and planted keystroke logging software in some military computers.

Second, even the most advanced drones aren’t immune to air defence systems, and advances in infrared detection and Doppler radar, the same kind used to detect tornadoes and other air turbulence, are likely to render them more vulnerable.

The RQ-170 was flying a reconnaissance mission inside Iranian airspace when its controllers lost contact with it, the two U.S. officials said.

The officials said that for three years the U.S. has been flying two types of unmanned surveillance missions over Iran and along the Afghanistan-Iran border from a former Soviet airbase in Shindand in western Afghanistan’s Heart province.

In addition to monitoring construction and other activity at suspected Iranian nuclear facilities from high altitudes, the officials said, the Central Intelligence Agency has been using drones to monitor cross-border traffic and Iranian support for insurgents.

The CIA, not the air force, flies the missions inside Iran so they are covert operations that the U.S. government can deny.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it presented its protest to the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, Livia Leu Agosti, who represents U.S. interests in the country.

In a letter to UN leaders, Iran denounced “the provocative and covert operations” against Iran by the U.S. The “blatant and unprovoked” air violation “is tantamount to an act of hostility,” Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said in the letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, current president of the Security Council.

http://www.therecord.com/news/world/...-drone-to-iran