Aerospace Forces Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander

of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, speaks to one of those

under his command alongside a captured U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel

drone aircraft operated by the CIA, Tehran, Dec. 8.

 

 

Fars News Agency, Islamic Republic of Iran

Revolutionary Guards Proudly Display Downed American Drone

 

As has been admitted by the United States that last week, a very sophisticated and valuable unmanned CIA spy drone was captured intact by Iranian forces. According to this news item from Iran's state-run Fars News Agency, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corp. downed the craft in a 'cyber attack' and is considering Chinese and Russian requests to examine it and presumably help back-engeneer it..

 

December 8, 2011

 

Islamic Republic of Iran - Fars News Agency - Original Article (English)

One of America's most prized pieces of high-techinogy on display in Iran: How serious is the loss of a CIA RQ-170 unmanned drone? According to American and Israeli sources - extremely serious, particlarly if the unit failed to erase its programming and the data it had collected, as Tehran asserts.

 

PRESS TV VIDEO [IRAN]: Iran puts downed U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft on display, Dec. 8, 00:01:53.RealVideo

TEHRAN: On Thursday, Iran's state broadcaster released the first images of a highly-advanced U.S. stealth spy drone, which was downed thanks to a cyber attack by Iranian military forces last week as it flew over the nation's airspace.

 

According to the report [video below], the width of the RQ-170 Sentinel drone from wing-to-wing is around 85 feet, with a length of almost 15 feet and a height of six feet.

 

The drone is equipped with highly-sophisticated surveillance, data gathering capability, electronic communication and radar, the report said.

 

The batwing-shaped, radar-evading aircraft can be fitted with various sensor payloads, which means they can be equipped to capture a range of intelligence material, including high-resolution images, radiation measurements and air samples.

 

U.S. officials and Western diplomats say that the stealth drone was part of a fleet of secret aircraft that the Central Intelligence Agency has used to escalate its campaign of espionage against Iran's nuclear facilities for the past several years.

 

The aircraft, built by Lockheed Martin, is best known for its role surveilling the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. "But it wasn't only being flown in Pakistan," one former Western official said.

 

During the last few years, Iran has already shot down over a dozen such aircraft.

 

U.S. officials have described the loss of the craft to Iran as a setback and even fatal blow to the stealth drone program.

 

 

Among America's main concerns is that Iran could use this intact aircraft to expose the vulnerabilities in its stealth technology and take air defense countermeasures. Another worry is that China or some other U.S. adversary could help Iran extract data from the drone that would reveal its flight history, surveillance targets and other capabilities.

 

In the event of malfunction the drone was programmed to destroy such data, but it failed to do so. The blow is so heavy that U.S. officials still don't want to accept that Iran brought the plane down in a cyber attack. Instead, explanations have focused on potential technical failures. The aircraft cover great distances and depend on satellite links. A lost connection or other malfunction could cause them to return home or self-destruct.

 

Revolutionary Guard Commander in Drone

 

Aerospace Forces Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), appeared in the televised to explain how Iranian forces downed the highly advanced radar-evading spy drone. 

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

"Recently, the intelligence we collected along with precise electronic monitoring revealed that this aircraft intended to infiltrate our nation's airspace for spying missions," the general said, adding, "After it entered the eastern parts of the country, the aircraft fell into a trap set by our armed forces and was downed inside Iran with minimal damage. …

 

Aerospace Forces Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander

of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, speaks to one of those

under his command alongside a captured CIA RQ-170 Sentinel drone

aircraft, Tehran, Dec. 8.

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Kitabat, Iraq: Iraq Caught in Middle as U.S. Asserts Iranian Murder Plot

Debka File, Israel: Loss of U.S. Drone Strengthens Case for Israeli Attack

Iraq News Agency, Iraq: Al-Sadr and Al-Maliki: More Shiite or Iraqi?

Kayhan, Iran: Sadrists to Take Up Arms If U.S. Remains in Iraq

Financial Times, U.K.: Maliki Gives Iran and U.S Joint Cause

Kitabat, Iraq: Letting Iraq Collapse Will Spell Disaster for U.S.

Kitabat, Iraq: 'Render Unto Caesar What is Caesar's'

Azzaman, Iraq: Iraqi Democracy Has Been 'Assassinated'

Kitabat, Iraq: Iraqis Need Patriotism, Not Americans Troops!

La Stampa, Italy: The War in Iraq: America's 'Seven Inglorious Years'

Kitabat, Iraq: Iraqis Must 'Take to Streets' to Demand a Presidential System

El Pais, Spain: U.S. Ends War it Couldn't Win; Leaves Behind Ruined Nation

Kitabat, Iraq: Iraq is Our Country!!!

The Telegraph, U.K.: Top Army Officer Warns Iraq Not Ready Until 2020

The Independent, U.K.: U.S. Troops Say Goodbye to Iraq

Guardian Unlimited, U.K.: Iraq is 'Half Built with the Roof Off'

Guardian Unlimited, U.K.: Fears Rise as U.S.-Backed Fighters Defect to al-Qaeda

Debka File, Iraq: U.S. Ends Iraq War, Leaves Two Civil Wars 'On the Boil'

Debka File, Israel: Combat Between U.S. and Iran Looms in Iraq
Kitabat, Iraq: America's 'Promise': To Leave Iraq in a State of Civil War
Kitabat, Iraq: Wake Up Iraqis!: The Americans Never Intend to Withdraw!

Kitabat, Iraq: America's War: From One Dictatorship to Another
Iraq News Agency, Iraq: Details on Scientist's Death Expose 'Zionist Jail' in Iraq

Iraq News Agency: Chalabi Tells General Odierno: 'Mind Your Business'

Iraq News Agency: U.S. 'Pullout' Resembles Israeli Retreats from Gaza

 

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"As far as its platform and coating, this type of aircraft is designed to evade radar and in terms of technology, is amongst the most advanced aircraft used by the United States," General Hajizadeh said. "The technology used in this aircraft had also been used in the B-2 Stealth Bomber and F-35 fighter aircraft," Hajizadeh said, and added, "This aircraft is controlled and guided through satellite link and land stations in Afghanistan and the United States. Military experts are well aware how precious the technological information of this drone is," he reiterated.

 

Current and former U.S. defense officials said that not even the U.S. military is equipped to use these highly-sophisticated stealth planes. They are in relatively short supply and are only flown by the CIA.

 

The existence of the aircraft has been known since 2009, when one was photographed at the main U.S. airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

 

Meanwhile, an informed Iranian military source has said that Russian and Chinese officials have asked to inspect the drone aircraft.

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US Dec. 8, 6:09pm]

 






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