Aerospace Chief Brigadier
General Amir Ali Hajizadeh with to one of those
under his command, near a
captured U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone operated
by the
CIA, Dec. 2011.
Iran Takes '35-Year Leap' By Reverse Engineering U.S. Drone (FARS
News Agency, Iran)
It appears that the long saga of the advanced U.S. RQ-170 drone,
downed by Iranian forced in December 2011, is about to reach a climax. According
to this news item from Iran's state-run FARS News Agency, the Islamic Republic
has made 35 years of progress by reverse engineering the aircraft, and Iran's
version is about to take its maiden flight.
One of America's most prized pieces of high-technology on display in Iran: How serious is the loss of a CIA RQ-170 unmanned drone? According to American and Israeli sources - extremely serious, particularly if the unit failed to erase its programming and the data it had collected, as Tehran asserts.
TEHRAN:
Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Aerospace Force Brigadier
General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, has said that Iran moved
as much as 35 years ahead in building drone engines by reverse-engineering a
U.S. Sentinal RQ-170
drone, which was tracked and hunted down in Iran late in 2011.
Hajizadeh said on Wednesday that the engines of
the RQ-170 are fifth
generation, whereas the engines of Iran's previous unmanned aircraft are
third generation, adding that to produce those, it took 35 years. Echoing the
words of Brigadier General Hossein Salami of the IRGC Aerospace Force, Hajizadeh
said on Wednesday that Iran's version of the RQ-170 will soon make its maiden
flight.
Brigadier
General Salami said in September, "The memory and systems of this aircraft
have been decoded, and we'll soon have some good news, not just about the
RQ-170 and the progress our forces have made reverse-engineering this drone,
but in other important areas of defense achievement."
On
December 4, 2011, Iranian
defense forces announced that through a sophisticated cyber attack, an U.S.
RQ-170 aircraft had been downed. It was the first such loss by the United
States. U.S. officials have described the loss as a major setback and fatal
blow to its stealth drone program.
The
RQ-170 has special coatings and a batwing design that helps it penetrate the
air defenses of other nations undetected. The existence of the Lockheed
Martin-produced aircraft by has been known since 2009, when a model was
photographed at the main U.S. airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The
RQ-170 lost by the United States over Iran was a stealth aircraft used for
secret missions by the CIA, U.S. officials admitted almost a week after Iran
captured the plane. It is among the most sensitive surveillance platforms in
the CIA fleet.
Since
December, 2011, Iran has hunted down several other U.S. drones of various
designs.
In
January, Rear Admiral Amir Rastegari, Navy deputy
commander for coordination, announced that the Army had brought down two more
advanced RQ-type Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
"Of
the two 11th series, RQ class drones, one was brough down between August21 and September 19, 2011, and the other between October 22 - November
20, 2012," Rastegari said, adding that the Army
research center was studying craft.
"Much
of the data on board these drones has been decoded by
the Army's Jihad and Research Center," he said, without providing further
details.
Rastegari's remarks came almost a month
after Iran announced on
December 4, 2012, that the Navy had hunted another U.S. UAV
over the Persian Gulf, when the drone violated Iranian airspace.
Rear
Admiral Rastegari announced at the time that the
craft was a ScanEagle drone, adding that "such drones are
usually launched from large warships." ScanEagle
is a small, low-cost, long-range unmanned aerial vehicle built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing.
Through
reverse engineering, Iran later produced its own ScanEagle
model.
Then,
in April this year, AlaeddinBoroujerdi,
Chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee,
announced that Iran had reverse-engineered the RQ-170, adding that Iran's
version would soon have a test flight.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
"Brave
armed forces personnel have hunted down the drone. The Americans immediately
protested and called for its return," Boroujerdi
said.
Boroujerdi didn't refer to any particular model UAV, but explained, "The reverse engineering began
immediately, and Iran's version will soon display the Islamic Republic's might
and power."
We
now know that Boroujerdi was referring to the RQ-170.
Thanks
to all this, Iran 's aerospace industry has made giant leaps, particularly in
designing and manufacturing pilotless drones.
In
April, on the occasion of the National Army Day, the Air Defense Force
displayed its Sarir (Throne) drones.
Speaking
to reporters at the time, the commander of the Khatamol-Anbia Air Defense Base, Brigadier General FarzadEsmayeeli, stated that the
Sarir is a long-range, long-endurance radar-evading
air defense drone.
"Sarir is capable of carrying cameras and air-to-air
missiles. At this point, dozens have been produced and flown," he said.
Also
earlier this month, Iran displayed the most advanced UAV
ever designed and built by Iranian engineers.
Held
on the sidelines of a conference to commemorate the Defense Ministry's martyrs,
the stealth drone named Hemaseh (Epic) was unveiled
at a special ceremony in the presence of the former defense minister, Brigadier
General Ahmad Vahidi.
Speaking
to reporters, Vahidi said that the drone had been
built by defense industry experts and is capable of conducting surveillance and
reconnaissance as well as combat missions.
Earlier,
Mohammad Eslami, deputy defense minister for
industrial and research affairs, told reporters that Hemaseh
enjoys capabilities superior to any previously built UAVs,
can fly at higher altitudes, and enjoys longer flight endurance.
