Iran Wants To Clone Downed US Drone 663
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by
Soulskill
from the come-fly-the-friendly-skies dept.
from the come-fly-the-friendly-skies dept.
PolygamousRanchKid sends this quote from the LA Times:
"The Obama administration has sent a formal diplomatic request asking Iran to return the radar-evading drone aircraft that crashed on a CIA spying mission this month, but U.S. officials say they don't expect Iran will comply. 'We have asked for it back,' Obama said Monday at a news conference in Washington with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. 'We'll see how the Iranians respond.' His comments marked the first public confirmation that the RQ-170 Sentinel drone now in Iranian hands is a U.S. aircraft, though U.S. officials privately acknowledged that in recent days. Iran has claimed it downed the stealthy surveillance drone, but U.S. officials say it malfunctioned. Capture of the futuristic-looking unmanned spy plane has provided Tehran with a propaganda windfall. The government announced that it planned to clone and mass produce the bat-winged craft for use against its enemies."
Iran has also demanded an apology from the U.S. for the drone flight in its airspace.
Re:Now these guys have some balls (Score:5, Informative)
Like the Russians asking for their MiG-25 back (they got it in boxes after much study), or the US asking China for it's EP-3 orion back (we got it and it is still flying today).
Re:Iran? Nope, China and Russia... (Score:0, Informative)
Because you think they live in caves?
TV much?
Step 2.... Step 3 profit (Score:4, Informative)
Obviously the next course of action is to air strike the shit out of it so the technology doesn't go into enemy hands.
Hey they asked nice, first.
You're Troll-a-riffic! (Score:2, Informative)
Because you think they live in caves?
No, troll, because I think they not have the the technical knowledge and manufacturing ability to "clone" these aircraft, and their friends in China and Russia do.
You are aware, are you not, that Iran gets *most* of its advanced technology from... China and Russia?
Re:You're Troll-a-riffic! (Score:0, Informative)
Because you think they live in caves?
No, troll, because I think they not have the the technical knowledge and manufacturing ability to "clone" these aircraft, and their friends in China and Russia do.
You are aware, are you not, that Iran gets *most* of its advanced technology from... China and Russia?
As does the US, well, at least from China.
Iran is not Iraq. They have a western standard of living, despite your ignorance of the region.
Re:Now these guys have some balls (Score:5, Informative)
The MiG-25 was obtained by the West after a Russian pilot defected, aircraft and all. It had nothing to do with a Soviet aircraft being in airspace without permission.
Re:Now these guys have some balls (Score:4, Informative)
Surprisingly yes. So far the claims from the US coalition have been that the drone was lost somewhere over western Afghanistan and not in Iran. The truth of that statement can be called into effect but it would be like flying a remote controlled helicopter around your yard that crashed into your neighbor's yard.
Re:Yeah, and I want to clone Brittany Murphy (Score:2, Informative)
You don't need a clone, you need a ghola.
Re:Now these guys have some balls (Score:4, Informative)
Actually I'm surprised that the drone didn't have a failsafe self destruct, the missile that I worked on had one; if it lost a certain classified signal for a classified length of time the warhead would detonate. One would think that with all of the classified coatings, sensors, avionics and airframe it would have been rigged to the gills.
Re:They already knew (Score:5, Informative)
Actually under international law they are supposed to return any wreckage from an aircraft that crashes in their territory. That is during peace time. Also as long as the aircraft was not "military" and not armed it is not considered an act of war.
Re:When will Iran apologize to humanity? (Score:4, Informative)
But the reason that we can trust the CIA in this matter is because it's declassified internal document logging the blackops that the CIA performed. This is their dirty laundry that they wouldn't want anyone to see.
Re:Now these guys have some balls (Score:5, Informative)
It's a police action if the President can't get a Declaration of War out of Congress but does it anyway.
Sort of like Libya. Or the crap going down in Yemen.
Or arguably Iraq and Afghanistan (Congress told Bush he could do it, at least, though they wouldn't come through with a Declaration of War, so it's only "arguable").
Or Panama, Grenada, Vietnam, Korea (again, arguable, same reasons), Nicaragua (several times), many others through history.
Re:Now these guys have some balls (Score:5, Informative)
Exactly.
IF its that secret. But there are indications its not all that secret or sensitive (despite public statements to the contrary).
There is considerable speculation on the web that there is not that much secret stuff in this aircraft anyway, because it was fully expected they would have operational losses. See Here [wikipedia.org]:
The design lacks several elements common to stealth engineering, namely notched landing gear doors and sharp leading edges. It has a curved wing planform, and the exhaust is not shielded by the wing.[10] Aviation Week postulates that these elements suggest the designers have avoided 'highly sensitive technologies' due to the near certainty of eventual operational loss inherent with a single engine design and a desire to avoid the risk of compromising leading edge technology.
Re:Now these guys have some balls (Score:4, Informative)