that the Iranians managed to "capture" one of these drones in the first place! Once this thing was hijacked it should have automatically self-destructed. It should have ended it's time with the Iranians scouring many square miles of Iran for the tiny bits of aftermath from an internal explosive device.

and then - on whatever flight duration it had left - were able to decipher said "countermeasures" we have MUCH to fear of our Iranian foe!
There should be a totally un-integrated self destruct system that could be set off independent of the main control systems.

it is much more likely it crashed due to a mechanical malfunction - drones, especially new models, have a poor reliability record.

built-in provisions to self-immolate. If it DID crash, they sure did a great job of reconstructing it for display.

how do you know that what they put on display actually were the remnants of a US drone. It doesn't take much to put together a fiberglass mold.

We didn't get pics of the F-117 and the SR-71 til well after the first of them had flown.

Consider if you will, that there wasn't strong denial or refute from the USA. One risks looking dumber if down the road one has to back track.

I have to wonder WHAT is the purpose of cloaking the underside of the displayed drone. I understand the questions that raises. Again tho - there was little protest from the US.

Also it is speculated that the RQ-170 does not have a self-destruct option.

I was just questioning whether what they put on display was the actual wreckage they recovered. That's all.

It's footage taken by a camera in an airliner and from a car, on a road.

...avoiding such absurd conventions as time and range stamps, and eschewing so-called "useful" things like focus and high resolution.

another level. It's good we're sparing our own military recruit, jobless teenagers the tacky death and destruction of the real-life killing fields with our new video game air toy. Why, some kids will barely know the difference.

The American Empire, like all others, has a shelf time. I just pray it isn't in my, or my son's, time.