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Iranians say they shot down a US spy plane

Dittohead not!

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Iran shot down US spy plane, military source says

The Iranian army shot down an unmanned US reconnaissance plane over the east of Iran, a local military source was quoted as saying Sunday.

According to the unnamed senior official cited by government-owned Press TV, an American-built RQ-170 Sentinel drone crossed into Iranian airspace from Afghanistan.

If they're telling the truth, which seems quite plausible, then they have a piece of American technology to copy.
 
Oh I hope this isn't true... We really don't need ANOTHER war in the Middle East.
 
If you think that's news, just wait until Iran gets the opportunity to try and shoot down one of our nukes.

Hey, just kidding, folks. LOL.
 
Iran does not have the capacity to duplicate it, but China and Russia do
 
In general: I don't get the spy-plane thing these days . . .we can get immensely detailed imagery from space.
Besides video imagery, sophisticated drones acquire valuable data throughout the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
 
Oh I hope this isn't true... We really don't need ANOTHER war in the Middle East.

Many people suspect WWIII to be basically inevitable for many reasons from currency issues, oil issues, culture issues, political issues, etc... This could very well be the beginning stages to build up to an all out war...again

It appears if anyone does anything to Iran whether it be attack its nuclear capabilities etc it could likely trigger the next world war...


China is threatening the U.S. of World War in an unpresidented bold statement from a usually quiet giant...
Chinese General Threatens US with World War 3 over Iran | EUTimes.net

Russia is threatening to start a nuclear war in a powerful statement of the likes that haven't been used since the "cold war"...
Russian Top General threatens to start Nuclear War - CNN iReport
 
Apparently Iran has a history of claiming drone kills, but then is unable to provide positive proof of the kill.
Has Iran Killed This Advanced US Stealth Plane?
BREAKING: Iran claims RQ-170 kill - The DEW Line

It's also interesting that they claim to have "shot down" the drone but also claim that it is undamaged. That's a mighty suspicious assertion.

Haven't found an "official" account about it being true they actually shot one down, but this article makes it appear they may have aquired one...
Lost drone may be one Iran says it shot down - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - Iran - msnbc.com
TEHRAN, Iran — A surveillance drone flying over western Afghanistan had gone out of control late last week and may be the one Iran said it had shot down over its own airspace, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Sunday..."The UAV to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week. The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status," an ISAF statement said.

Still wondering if it simply is a case of trying to get some info in a last ditch effort before the drone base was evacuated...:)
 
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I'm not buying this story. Those things are set to self destruct if control is lost.
 
Kind of what I suspected...

A U.S. official said Sunday that Washington had no indication that a drone that had crashed in Iran had actually been shot down.

..In Tehran, state television quoted a military source as saying that Iran's military had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran.

"There is absolutely no indication up to this point that Iranians shot down this drone," the official told NBC News.

US: No indication drone in Iran was shot down - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - Iran - msnbc.com
 
It is highly unlikely that Iran even has the ability to detect, much less shoot down, a spy plane like this. I'm more inclined to believe that the DoD is telling the truth, and the plane simply crashed. With that said, it will probably give the Iranians lots of free technology to study.
 
It is highly unlikely that Iran even has the ability to detect, much less shoot down, a spy plane like this. I'm more inclined to believe that the DoD is telling the truth, and the plane simply crashed. With that said, it will probably give the Iranians lots of free technology to study.

Depends on what Russia has provided. Russia may have provided advanced radar technology to Iran
 
A surveillance drone flying over western Afghanistan had gone out of control late last week and may be the one Iran said it had shot down over its own airspace, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has said.

"The UAV to which the Iranians are referring may be a US unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week. The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status," an ISAF statement said on Sunday.
Drone 'shot down' in Iran may belong to US - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English
 
Depends on what Russia has provided. Russia may have provided advanced radar technology to Iran

Unlikely. Russia has done a great job scamming the Iranians for as much as they can. Russia agrees to help them in some way, collects some money, and then backs out at the last minute. I don't think Russia wants a powerful Iran anymore than the US does, they just like to pretend they do so that they can rip Iran off.
 
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Unlikely. Russia has done a great job conning the Iranians for as much as they can. Russia agrees to help them in some way, collects some money, and then backs out at the last minute. I don't think Russia wants a powerful Iran anymore than the US does, they just like to pretend they do so that they can rip Iran off.

Depends on what you mean by powerfull

A radar system does not make one powerfull, in Irans case it would assist defensive capabilty but not make it powerfull.
 
Not buying NATOs cover story of a lost drone either because the drone would have self destructed.

Not sure what exactly happened, but Iran is saying it is sharing the down drones with Russian engineers and is reverse engineering the drones. Perhaps they have figured out a way to override the drones steering control systems to prevent them from self-destructing automatically. I hope not, but it certainly a possiblity if they actually have managed to down several of these devices.
 
In general: I don't get the spy-plane thing these days . . .we can get immensely detailed imagery from space.

we need those red beams from space like in gears of war.
 
Not buying NATOs cover story of a lost drone either because the drone would have self destructed.

Not sure what exactly happened, but Iran is saying it is sharing the down drones with Russian engineers and is reverse engineering the drones. Perhaps they have figured out a way to override the drones steering control systems to prevent them from self-destructing automatically. I hope not, but it certainly a possibility if they actually have managed to down several of these devices.

With all due respect, I don't think you have a clue how sophisticated our drones are. Not the airframes so much as the electronics within. It would probably take a country like Iran decades to figure out the electronics inside of one of those things, much less learn how to override the flight controls. I can promise they are using a heavily encrypted connection with the drone. Not something Iran could just walk outside and figure out. Without having direct access to any of our drone aircraft or the electronics within, I seriously doubt they could learn how to take one from us.

It's just not plausible. If the Russians, with their much more sophisticated and advanced electronics can't tag our drones, I seriously doubt Iran, who hasn't even developed a nuclear weapon yet, could. Iran is literally where the USA was back around 1942. Do you really think in 1942 we had the technology to take over a remote control plane whose electronics alone cost many many many millions of dollars? I doubt it.

And it wouldn't impress me much if Iran shot down a drone. They fly about the same speed as a Cessna 182 and have the radar cross section of a school bus. Not much to brag about there. And this is IF they shot it down, which I seriously doubt. The Iraqis used a Mig 25 to shoot one down, ironically on September 11, 2001. They aren't hard to shoot. It's like a duck hunter going out and blowing buzzards out the sky.
 
Not sure this is news worthy.I am sure that any country that saw a spy plane flying over would shoot it down.

It is news worthy because, if it is true, or even if it crashed as indicated in the post above, the Iranians could have a piece of sophisticated hardware to copy.

The specter of predator drones controlled by terrorists flying over our territory is chilling to say the least, and certainly not outside of the realms of possibility.
 
The specter of predator drones controlled by terrorists flying over our territory is chilling to say the least, and certainly not outside of the realms of possibility.

Yes it is. It will be MANY decades before that is in the realm of possibility.
 
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i hope we take a break from war and hire some people to fix the roads, build some bridges, and develop domestic energy sources.

that seems vastly better than these never ending penis measuring contests with China / Russia / scary foreign power of the day. if China wants Iran, more power to them.
 
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