National Security & Defense

Eugene

(61,896 posts) Thu Feb 7, 2013, 11:11 AM Feb 2013

Iran broadcasts footage 'extracted from CIA spy drone'

Source: Associated Press

Iran broadcasts footage 'extracted from CIA spy drone'

Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 7 February 2013 10.33 GMT

Iran's state TV has broadcast footage allegedly extracted from the advanced CIA spy drone captured in 2011, the latest in a flurry of moves from Iranian authorities meant to underline the nation's purported military and technological advances.

Iran has long claimed it managed to reverse-engineer the RQ-170 Sentinel, seized in December 2011 after it entered Iranian airspace from its eastern border with Afghanistan.

After initially saying only that a drone had been lost near the Afghan-Iran border, US officials eventually confirmed the Sentinel had been monitoring Iran's military and nuclear facilities. Washington asked for it back but Iran refused, and instead released photos of Iranian officials studying the aircraft.

The video aired late on Wednesday shows an aerial view of an airport and a city, said to be a US drone base and Kandahar in Afghanistan. Television also showed images purported to be the Sentinel landing at a base in eastern Iran but it was unclear if that footage was meant to depict the moment of the drone's seizure.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/07/iran-footage-cia-spy-drone

Source: Agence France-Presse

Iran TV airs video of captured US drone

(AFP) – 26 minutes ago

TEHRAN — Iranian state television has aired video footage that it says was extracted from a CIA drone it captured inside the Islamic republic's airspace in December 2011.

In a documentary broadcast Wednesday, the elite Revolutionary Guards released the video, the first time it has been seen since the RQ-170 Sentinel was captured after it entered Iranian airspace from its eastern border with Afghanistan.

The Guards aerospace division, which said it seized the unmanned aircraft, said the footage showed images of the drone landing at an airbase in Kandahar in Afghanistan, as well as at a base in Pakistan.

Iran has previously claimed that it brought down the drone electronically by "spoofing" its GPS guidance system. US officials have said that the Sentinel suffered a malfunction.

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Iran broadcasts footage 'extracted from CIA spy drone' (Original Post) Eugene Feb 2013 OP

With all the happy chest thumping talk on killer drones R. Daneel Olivaw Feb 2013 #1

R. Daneel Olivaw

(12,606 posts)

1. With all the happy chest thumping talk on killer drones

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Thu Feb 7, 2013, 12:28 PM

Feb 2013

one might wish to rethink the policy of spying on other countries, and killing their civilians, if their tech is going to be hijacked and flown into enemy hands.

This is the argument: What if an enemy was able to figure out how to hijack a drone, mid flight, and use it against a population, aka kill civilians, or military target then hard land the drone to make it look like a crash? It would, in all appearances, look like the USA was declaring war on a population/sovereign state; creating a false flag for the purposes of that enemy country and legitimate war. The drone could even possibly be turned on the USA by attacking US personnel and military. Any country that has an interest in tarnishing the image (like our image already isn't pitch black?) of the USA in that part of the world could try it.

We reap what we sow.

Oh, this was also a funny piece. "Washington asked for it (the drone) back but Iran refused, and instead released photos of Iranian officials studying the aircraft. "

Why would Iran, or any country, want to "give back" anything that illegally flies into its territory for the purpose of spying? Would the USA?

I'm not siding with the Iranians on any of this, but the US drone policy could really backfire on us in a big way.

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