Iran Claims Copy Of Captured US Drone Will Soon Take Test Flight

[Purveyor]

Source: Guardian UK/AFP

• Officer says on state TV: 'We have broken its secrets'
• White House blamed 2011 loss on technical problem

AFP in Tehran
theguardian.com, Sunday 11 May 2014 15.49 EDT

Iran said on Sunday it had succeeded in copying a US drone it captured in December 2011. State television broadcast images apparently showing the replicated aircraft.

Iran captured the US RQ-170 Sentinel while it was in its airspace, apparently on a mission to spy on the country's nuclear sites, US media reported.

At the time, the White House blamed the loss on a technical problem causing a loss of control. Iran claimed to have brought the drone down by electronically disrupting its GPS system.

US military officials tried to play the incident down, saying Iran did not have the technology to decipher the drone's secrets, and President Barack Obama asked the Islamic republic to return the Sentinel.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/11/iran-drone-us-copied-captured-spy

[dipsydoodle]

1. The Islamic republic was asked to return the Sentinel...........

"can we have our ball back please"

[Paulie]

3. The Sentinel

[MADem]

4. That drone didn't appear to have any parts in it. They put a skirt on it!

I think it was badly damaged, not sure if they got much more than the shell of the thing.

Of course, they DID build a brand new "fighter jet"...only problem is, it was a model, filmed at a goofy angle...unless all the IRI military pilots are made of plastic with a fixed expression!

I'd want to see the thing fly before I'd believe that they did an actual "reverse engineer" and didn't just build a static display, like they did with their "new" jet.

[NutmegYankee]

5. I'm still surprised we didn't have a self destruct charge in it. nt

[MADem]

6. Maybe we do...? I just don't know.

It looked like they had a shell on display, hard to know if there were any guts in the thing....

[daleo]

7. Maybe it just didn't go off

Things don't always work as they are designed to.