Forum: Drones

I have my doubts as to whether they actually shot it down, especially if it was an RQ-170. Still embarrassing though, sounds like we already had a cover story ready to go.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011 ... 88993.html

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Reports are we lost control of it. Whether it was actually operating over Iran or not we're not likely to know anytime soon if ever.

Thus far it is pretty inconclusive in terms of whether Iran actually shot down an RQ-170. I'm going to deny any belief that they did until I see pictures of Iranian personnel actually holding the downed drone up or something.

tacf-x wrote:

Thus far it is pretty inconclusive in terms of whether Iran actually shot down an RQ-170. I'm going to deny any belief that they did until I see pictures of Iranian personnel actually holding the downed drone up or something.

That still doesn't prove the Iranians brought it down (even tho they'll claim they did). Just that they have the wreckage after the fact. Curious to know if there's a self-destruct system on board for just such occasions.

The Iranians may have thought the pilot was defecting.

At least it is confirmed its a CIA-variant of the RQ-170.

madrat wrote:

CIA-variant of the RQ-170.

Are there any others? Wink

I do not understand why we did not recover or destroy the wreckage? If we knew where it was and if it was a remote area of Eastern Iran as the military now claims, how could they interpret a single bomb drop on some obscure hill as a hostile attack? I agree that sending in teams would have been too dangerous and provocative. Doing nothing proved to be not only an embarrassment on many levels, but an operational failure as they now have some prime assets to sell for money, concessions and know how from the highest bidders. And now the only excuse we can seem to hang on to for saving face is the explanation that they are too stupid to make use of it. Let's not insult them twice. It is also quite alarming that a redundant redundant redundant redundant system for piloting the aircraft back to base in case of loss of control malfunctioned.

PhillyGuy wrote:

...If we knew where it was and if it was a remote area of Eastern Iran as the military now claims, how could they interpret a single bomb drop on some obscure hill as a hostile attack?

Assuming you're not being sarcastic, you're crossing a border of a sovereign nation (either in a manned platform or by standoff means, like a cruise missile) and dropping live warheads on it's soil. Whether it's uninhabited territory or not, the people on the receiving end tend to throw flags when that happens.

If Russia managed to penetrate our northern ADIZ without our permission, get deep enough into Alaskan airspace, and dropped bombs in the middle of ANWR, would we not cry foul? The Iranians are just a lot more boisterous about it 'cause the US is involved.

From Haaretz: Iranian TV displays what they claim is the drone.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east ... e-1.400377

Does anyone but me think this thing looks odd from the standpoint of it appearing nearly intact? I mean...if it were "brought down" from medium to high altitude in the area they say they snagged it, you'd think it'd be in pieces. WTF

Could this thing have soft-landed by itself, just in a real inappropriate area?

LinkF16SimDude wrote:

Assuming you're not being sarcastic, you're crossing a border of a sovereign nation (either in a manned platform or by standoff means, like a cruise missile) and dropping live warheads on it's soil. Whether it's uninhabited territory or not, the people on the receiving end tend to throw flags when that happens.

I am dead serious and that does not fly with me. It just doesn't fit their profile. We are running drones into their airspace, putting people on payroll inside of their country, the Israelis are blowing up their bases and assassinating their leaders and scientists and you think an obvious strike to destroy wreckage would trigger WWIII? We almost went to the Pakistani capital and just pretty much wiped out two of their border posts, knowing they have nuclear weapons and a more capable military than Iran. Point being, we take risks when we have no choice. To me it is criminal for the NCA to see this bird nearly intact, just sitting there, and do nothing to minimize the fallout when the Iranians finally got there.

We pretty much gave them a working airframe with intact sensors and systems. (Judging from the video and pictures)

LinkF16SimDude wrote:

From Haaretz: Iranian TV displays what they claim is the drone.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east ... e-1.400377

Does anyone but me think this thing looks odd from the standpoint of it appearing nearly intact? I mean...if it were "brought down" from medium to high altitude in the area they say they snagged it, you'd think it'd be in pieces. WTF

Could this thing have soft-landed by itself, just in a real inappropriate area?

I sense conspiracy theorists showing up. But probably, the FCS screwed up horribly and thought it was supposed to land. In Iran.

And people wonder why I can't stand these things...

Yeah I'm a supporter of the theory that it just lost contact with the operators and then came gliding back down after it ran out of fuel over Iran. The Iranians then snatched it and took it away.

The fact that we actually lost control has me as concerned as if they had actually shot it down, exponentially so if they were able to jam or hack the datalink.

I doubt they hacked it. The software would be highly encrypted and the Iranians would have to be really good at hacking to crack what we've got. I say the connection was lost, not hacked.

Forum: Drones

Drone 'shot down' in Iran may belong to US