ISAF says drone lost over Afghanistan late last week

mlurp · #1 (**permalink**) 12-04-2011, 01:03 PM

5,786 comments below this news story... Sense this is about Iran please any mod move it to our International Topic area.

Quote:

.ISAF says drone lost over Afghanistan late last week
Reuters – 9 mins ago.

BONN (Reuters) - A surveillance drone flying over western Afghanistan had gone out of control late last week and may be the one Iran said it had shot down over its own airspace, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Sunday.

"The UAV to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week. The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status," an ISAF statement said.

The statement about the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was issued in Kabul and released to reporters covering an international conference on Afghanistan in the German city Bonn.

(Reporting by Missy Ryan; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

ISAF says drone lost over Afghanistan late last week - Yahoo! News

saltwn · #2 (**permalink**) 12-04-2011, 10:07 PM

Update

Is this the same plane?

Iran says it downed U.S. stealth drone; Pentagon acknowledges aircraft downing

Iran says it downed U.S. stealth drone; Pentagon acknowledges aircraft downing - The Washington Post

Quote:

A secret U.S. surveillance drone that went missing last week in western Afghanistan appears to have crashed in Iran, in what may be the first case of such an aircraft ending up in the hands of an adversary.

Iran’s news agencies asserted that the nation’s defense forces brought down the drone, which the Iranian reports said was an RQ-170 stealth aircraft. It is designed to penetrate enemy air defenses that could see and possibly shoot down less-sophisticated Predator and Reaper drones.

Quote:

A stealthy RQ-170 drone played a critical role in surveilling the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding in the months before the raid in which he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in May.

U.S. officials acknowledged Sunday that a drone had been lost near the Iranian border, but they declined to say what kind of aircraft was missing.

There's more to the story at the site.

mlurp · #3 (**permalink**) 12-06-2011, 09:13 PM

It might be but from the pictures of this one we got the same situation as when the Seals lost their special chopter in the killing of OBL. If you saw this drone you can very quickly see it is all about stealth, and China, Russia and others will be seeing it as well as using any parts to come up with their own version.

America is paying a large price for not having ears on the ground as we lost 12 just last 2 weeks. Over a CIA mistake. A newbie mistake. But then like with Powers and his U-2 we already knew the chance of a shot down was possible. As usual we take more risks than we should in some areas...

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

Update

Is this the same plane?

Iran says it downed U.S. stealth drone; Pentagon acknowledges aircraft downing

Iran says it downed U.S. stealth drone; Pentagon acknowledges aircraft downing - The Washington Post

There's more to the story at the site.

Bodo · #4 (**permalink**) 12-07-2011, 07:07 AM

Reports are that is wasn't 'brought down' by Iran. We lost control of the drone and it went into 'safe mode': Level Flight. It passed into Iran and it landed there, mostly intact.

Iran lucked out.

Mikeyy · #5 (**permalink**) 12-07-2011, 08:35 AM

Dang it Obama. What did you do now.

RedState · #6 (**permalink**) 12-07-2011, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bodo

Reports are that is wasn't 'brought down' by Iran. We lost control of the drone and it went into 'safe mode': Level Flight. It passed into Iran and it landed there, mostly intact.

Iran lucked out.

Could be true. But I also saw some speculation that it could have been hijacked by three muslims with boxcutters. Reports are still coming in though.

RedState · #7 (**permalink**) 12-07-2011, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlurp

It might be but from the pictures of this one we got the same situation as when the Seals lost their special chopter in the killing of OBL. If you saw this drone you can very quickly see it is all about stealth, and China, Russia and others will be seeing it as well as using any parts to come up with their own version.

America is paying a large price for not having ears on the ground as we lost 12 just last 2 weeks. Over a CIA mistake. A newbie mistake. But then like with Powers and his U-2 we already knew the chance of a shot down was possible. As usual we take more risks than we should in some areas...

Im just glad theirs no captured pilot and prisoner on trial. Could have been much worse.

Also the possibility that the iranians could have actually hacked into the UAV and taken control of it. Its not outside the realm of possibility, Al Qaeda and taliban would regularly tap into UAV video feeds with 50 bucks worth of tech from radioshack and a little know how. What do you think?

mlurp · #8 (**permalink**) 12-07-2011, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bodo

Reports are that is wasn't 'brought down' by Iran. We lost control of the drone and it went into 'safe mode': Level Flight. It passed into Iran and it landed there, mostly intact.

Iran lucked out.

And we lost a valued item to Iran, China & Russia & possible others, which we could ill aford.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikeyy

Dang it Obama. What did you do now.

And happy to see your making a joke out of this...

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedState

Im just glad theirs no captured pilot and prisoner on trial. Could have been much worse.

Also the possibility that the iranians could have actually hacked into the UAV and taken control of it. Its not outside the realm of possibility, Al Qaeda and taliban would regularly tap into UAV video feeds with 50 bucks worth of tech from radioshack and a little know how. What do you think?

One thing is for sure they have it and their suppliers in arms and tech, will be looking at this for a while.

See my 1st reply above.

mlurp · #9 (**permalink**) 12-08-2011, 07:54 PM

Want more or have you been listening to the news today? looks like some higher up wanted to save a few $$$$$ and should have exploed it, well they get paid to think... I sure hope they do so next time...

Quote:

.Iran shows video of purported US drone

By NASSER KARIMI | AP – 4 hrs ago. 8 Dec. 2011

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian state TV broadcast video Thursday of what it said was the high-tech U.S. drone that Tehran says its forces downed earlier this week, and lodged a diplomatic complaint over the violation of its airspace.

The more than two minutes of footage showed Iranian military officials inspecting what state TV identified as the RQ-170 Sentinel drone, and offered the first evidence that Tehran had captured the aircraft. The beige-colored drone appeared intact and undamaged.

The chief of the aerospace division of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Ami Ali Hajizadeh, claimed Iranian forces brought down the surveillance aircraft with an electronic ambush, causing minimum damage to the drone.

"It was downed through a joint operation by the Guards and Iran's regular army," he told state television.

Tehran appeared to be using the video footage to score propaganda points, and a banner at the foot of the drone in the video read "The U.S. cannot do a damn thing" — a quotation from Iran's late supreme leader, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini. Another banner was printed to look like the American flag, but had skulls instead of stars.

In Washington, Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. military officials and others were studying the imagery but would have no further comment. "We're just not going to talk about these kinds of missions and these kinds of capabilities," Kirby said.

Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said the Defense Department would not be saying whether the Iranian images are that of the U.S. drone.

Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador on Thursday to protest the drone's "invasion" of Iranian airspace, according to state TV. It said the ministry demanded an explanation and compensation from Washington.

The U.S. and Iran do not have diplomatic relations, and Switzerland represents American interests in Iran.

Iran first reported the downing on Sunday but did not say when the incident happened. At the time, the official IRNA news agency said Iran's armed forces had shot it down — a claim later rejected by U.S. officials who said the drone crashed over the weekend but that there was no indication it had been shot down.

Iranian state radio has said the unmanned aircraft was detected over the eastern town of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225 kilometers) from the border with Afghanistan.

The RQ-170 Sentinel, made by Lockheed Martin, has been used in Afghanistan for years. It gained notoriety earlier this year when officials disclosed that one was used to keep watch Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan as the raid that killed him was taking place.

The aircraft is equipped with stealth technology, but the U.S. Air Force has not made public any specifics about the drone.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter, have said they are not sure what the Iranians will be able to glean technologically from what they found. It is unlikely that Iran would be able to recover any surveillance data from the aircraft.

Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution, author of "Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century," said that while some of the mechanics of the aircraft are well known, some aspects — especially its sensors — would be important to countries like China.

"This is the jewel for them now," Singer said. "It depends on what was on the plane on this mission, but one sensor it has carried in the past is an AESA radar. This is a very advanced radar that really is a difference maker for our next generation of planes, not just drones, but also manned ones like F-22s and F-35s."

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss classified information, have said the drone and other stealth craft like it for years have spied on Iran — including its nuclear program — from a U.S. air base in Afghanistan, and other bases in the region.

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 developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and that it seeks to generate electricity and produce isotopes to treat medical patients.

Iran confirmed for the first time in 2005 that the U.S. has been flying surveillance drones over its airspace to spy on its military and nuclear facilities.

In January, Tehran said two pilotless spy planes shot down over its airspace were operated by the U.S., and in July, media said Iranian military officials showed Russian experts several U.S. drones reportedly shot down in recent years.

Faced with international sanctions over its disputed nuclear program, Iran has been trying to build up its own military technology.

It unveiled its first domestically built unmanned bomber in 2010, calling the aircraft an "ambassador of death" to Iran's enemies. Two year earlier, Tehran announced it had built an unmanned aircraft with a range of more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers), far enough to reach Israel.

Both Israel and the United States have not ruled out a military option against Iran's nuclear facilities, which the West suspects aim to make atomic weapons - a charge Iran denies.

___

Associated Press writers Pauline Jelinek, Lolita C. Baldor and Douglas Birch contributed to this report from Washington.

Iran shows video of purported US drone - Yahoo! News

Comet · #10 (**permalink**) 12-08-2011, 08:38 PM

You can bet the farm that Iran will now sell the design to the Chinese and Russians after they reverse engineer it.

It was being reported on the news today that Obama was presented with three possible options regarding this drone.

One was to send in a special operations unit to get it out of there.

The other was to send in a special operations unit to destroy it.

The third was to destroy it using guided missiles.

Obama passed on all three.

Probably a wise decision.

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