U.S. Military Sources: Iran Has Missing Stealth Drone...

[paulitician]

Iran appears to be in possession of one of America's most sophisticated weapons, a super-secret spy plane whose stealth technology is the same as the drone used to monitor the compound during the raid that killed Usama bin Laden, U.S. military sources told Fox News on Monday.

Military sources confirmed that the Iranians have the RQ-170 drone, which is so advanced that the U.S. Air Force has not distributed even a photo of it. However, they did not say that the Iranians shot down the spy plane, as was reported by Iran's official IRNA news agency.

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IRNA quoted an unidentified Iranian military official saying Sunday that the spy plane was shot down by Iran's armed forces and suffered minor damage.. The official also warned of strong and crushing response to any violations of the country's airspace by American drone aircraft.

Earlier, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan issued a statement saying the aircraft may have been a drone that operators lost contact with last week while it was flying a mission over neighboring western Afghanistan.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the incident, said the U.S. had "absolutely no indication" that the drone was shot down.

Iran is locked in a dispute with the U.S. and its allies over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and that it seeks to generate electricity and produce isotopes to treat medical patients.



Read more: U.S. Military Sources: Iran Has Missing U.S. Drone | Fox News

 

[paulitician]

It seems like very quietly the War with Iran has already begun.

 

[Navy1960]

A couple of thing Paul to consider. Iran on a Routine basis makes claims to have shot down U.S. Drones or have them, but have yet to produce one. The other thing worth noting is this, the RQ-170 is an autonomous UAV and generally operates at around 50,000 ft. and made of composites, so if it were shot down from that altutude there would not be much left of the aircraft other than very small parts to even worry about, and because the Air Force has indicated that their operators << key word lost contact with a drone in that area it's more than likely a Reaper or Predator which we have lost several of. Unless Iran produces one, I rather doubt they have one in their posession , because if they had indeed landed one as they claim, then Al Jazeera would have it all over the Air in the Middle East.

 

[kyzr]

When Russia and China start mass-producing them then we'll know how stupid we were to put our best drones over the ME. Our tax dollars being wasted. If Panetta wants more, the answer is NO.

 

[SFC Ollie]

When Russia and China start mass-producing them then we'll know how stupid we were to put our best drones over the ME. Our tax dollars being wasted. If Panetta wants more, the answer is NO.

So our tax dollars are better put to use building something that we don't use?

 

[Navy1960]

When Russia and China start mass-producing them then we'll know how stupid we were to put our best drones over the ME. Our tax dollars being wasted. If Panetta wants more, the answer is NO.

In assault variant will perform on the SKAT indistinguishable pattern of a flying wing with no tail, with an internal deployment of the combat load and one engine inlet at the top of the head of the fuselage. SKAT takeoff weight is estimated at 10 tons, payload mass (target equipment and weapons) - 1-3 m, maximum speed may 1100 km / h, ceiling - 16 km, and the duration of the flight - 6 hours
Unified by 60-70% with the modified version of the combat reconnaissance vehicle and RLD differ, in addition to using other systems of equipment, the use of high aspect ratio wing panel and tail module.

The load-bearing body of the aircraft in terms of a triangle with a sweep angle on the front edges of about 54 degrees. The same sweep are made with zero restriction console wing with cut at 90 degrees to the front and rear edges of the wingtips. In general, throughout the guise of a Stingray at the top and bottom there is a tendency to build all of the external contour of the airframe, the joints of panels, valves and hatches niches all along several parallel axes, which meets the requirements of reducing the radar visibility.

MiG SKAT Unmanned Aerial Fighting Aircraft | Russian Military Analysis

When you look at the aircraft it looks pretty much the same as the RQ170 , in short Russia and China already have a whole host of UAV's as well as UCAVS. The trend in aviation is towards more of these types of aircraft and in fact some in the aviation industry are saying that the F-35 may in fact be the last manned US Fighter. That is not something I agree with, because I come from a time when they told us we only needed missiles for air to air combat which resulted in the F-4 without a gun, we found out different in Southeast Asia.

 

[occupied]

China and Russia already have everything we have, Iran lies constantly, WW3 alarmists secretly want it to happen.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Besides the war with Iran started in 1979........ Just sayin.........

 

[USArmyRetired]

The military has confirmed it is the RQ-170 Drone in the OP and Iran does have it.

 

[Defiant1]

The military has confirmed it is the RQ-170 Drone in the OP and Iran does have it.

Two cruise missiles targeting the Shazand refinery and one for the Presidential Palace.

 

[paulitician]

The military has confirmed it is the RQ-170 Drone in the OP and Iran does have it.

Two cruise missiles targeting the Shazand refinery and one for the Presidential Palace.

Yea i do think the War with Iran has already begun.

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says dey prob'ly gonna let the Chinese reverse engineer it fer `em an' den when ya least espect it - BAM! - dat Ammerdinerjob gonna shoot a Hellfire missile up Obama's poop-chute...

'US army: Iran is in possession of our spy drone'
Tue, Dec 6, 2011 - American army officials concerned that Tehran has US's top-secret unmanned aircraft after it was lost during mission in Afghanistan, Fox News reports; Iranian Revolutionary Guard preparing strike attack, report says.

Iran seems to be in possession of the same RQ-170 drone that the Iranian military said it shot down Sunday, Fox News reported Monday according to American military sources. US officials failed to say whether or not Iranians shot the unmanned spy plane down, as per Iranian reports. Iran on Sunday said that its military had downed the drone in an eastern province. Shortly after those Iranian reports, a NATO official said that the drone may have been one that went missing during a mission in Afghanistan the week before.

The Iranian and US reports differ over whether Iran had managed to take down the top-secret spy aircraft, and in what condition the Iranian army found that grounded jet. The incident comes at a time when Tehran is trying to contain foreign outrage at the storming of the British embassy on Tuesday, after London announced sanctions on Iran's central bank in connection with Iran's nuclear enrichment program. Iran has announced several times in the past that it shot down US, Israeli or British drones, in incidents that did not provoke high-profile responses.

Also on Monday, British newspaper the Telegraph reported that the Revolutionary Guard was raising its preparedness for war fearing a strike after mounting international pressure, and a number of mysterious explosions that rocked different cities in the country. Western intelligence officials said that Iran was deploying artillery and guards to key defensive points, as well as arranging "long-range missiles" and "high explosives" fearing a potential attack, according to the Telegraph.

'US army: Iran is in possession of our s... JPost - International

 

[Katzndogz]

Is this another obama success? After all under Bush Iran had to lie about shooting down our drones, obama made sure they actually got one.

 

[SFC Ollie]

So when do we go get it back?

 

[Vel]

Is this another obama success? After all under Bush Iran had to lie about shooting down our drones, obama made sure they actually got one.

Absolutely amazing. You can bet that nothing will be done to try to recover the drone either.

 

[Katzndogz]

Is this another obama success? After all under Bush Iran had to lie about shooting down our drones, obama made sure they actually got one.

Absolutely amazing. You can bet that nothing will be done to try to recover the drone either.

You mean after obama made an enemy out of Pakistan so that they threw us out? Well, nothing. We aren't going to do anything at all.

What you will find, is official white house press releases saying thit it was worthless, old technology and they didn't get anything anyway.

 

[sitarro]

Why isn't a vehicle like this equipped with a self destruct option?

 

[Vel]

Why isn't a vehicle like this equipped with a self destruct option?

Excellent question.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Why isn't a vehicle like this equipped with a self destruct option?

Or at least a contact number or e-mail or something!

When I was a kid I lost a few of my rubber band powered Free Flight models when they flew away. But I did get a few of them back when the person who found them saw my name and address on the plane.

You think the US puts return addresses on their planes?

 

[Contumacious]

Iran appears to be in possession of one of America's most sophisticated weapons, a super-secret spy plane whose stealth technology is the same as the drone used to monitor the compound during the raid that killed Usama bin Laden, U.S. military sources told Fox News on Monday.

Relax Mendel.

Those babies only cost $6,000,000.00 .

Its not like we are a quadrillion dollars in the hole . Its just 15 TTTTTTTTTTTTTTrillion .

Its a matter of national security ........Obama needs to grandstand for Bibi in order to get re-elected.

Esther La Vista.

.