Pentagon admits Iranian TV footage DOES show U.S. stealth drone..but insists it WASN'T shot down

UK Daily Mail ^ | 12/8/2011 | MARK DUELL

[SMCC1]

Mystery surrounds how American's most sophisticated spy plane was captured by Iran after it was paraded on Iranian state television earlier today in mint condition.

Iran claims the lost RQ-170 Sentinel was on a surveillance mission last week when it was detected by Iranians over Kashmar and was downed by their armed forces.

But the fact the drone is in such good shape contradicts Iran's claim it was shot down - and backs up U.S. claims that Tehran did not bring it down through electronic, cyber or any other means.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2071741/Is-downed-U-S-stealth-drone-Iranian-TV-airs-footage-military-officials-inspecting-craft.html#ixzz1g0LLMLpg

[SMCC1]

The earlier ABC report on here said it was a fake...this one says it's real...

[GeronL]

?

Didn’t they say it was a fake photo because the drone was probably in many peices?

Now they say this.... weird

[John S Mosby]

It’s an op. Keep them guessing. That would be the best face on it. Say, maybe some kind of EMP weapon that would screw up their intel lab.

Or is a massive screw up, leading to the question— why don’t these things have scuttling charges to blow them up, just like an errant missle.

[eyedigress]

Greta just showed a brief clip of it and it does look real and in very good shape.

[cripplecreek]

I thought they said it was designed to land on its own if it got lost.

In any case, looks like we’ve handed the islamderthals some more technology.

[I cannot think of a name]

“I thought they said it was designed to land on its own if it got lost.”

Yes, I heard the same thing but my brain tried to block it out.

The most brilliant idea in history - something you design to fly over enemy territory is also designed to land on its own if it gets lost. Sometimes I think I’m living in a Monty Python world.

[molson209]

?

Didn’t they say it was a fake photo because the drone was probably in many peices?

Now they say this.... weird

No, it’s the Obama Admin no one knows but everyone has the answer , yes ,no ,maybe D’oh

[Williams]

Looked a little like a flying edsel.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks SMCC1.

[Boiler Plate]

Anybody recall this from a couple of months ago?

Get Hacked, Don’t Tell: Drone Base Didn’t Report Virus

Officials at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada knew for two weeks about a virus infecting the drone “cockpits” there. But they kept the information about the infection to themselves — leaving the unit that’s supposed to serve as the Air Force’s cybersecurity specialists in the dark. The network defenders at the 24th Air Force learned of the virus by reading about it in Danger Room.

[Boiler Plate]

Anybody recall this from a couple of months ago?

Get Hacked, Don’t Tell: Drone Base Didn’t Report Virus

Officials at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada knew for two weeks about a virus infecting the drone “cockpits” there. But they kept the information about the infection to themselves — leaving the unit that’s supposed to serve as the Air Force’s cybersecurity specialists in the dark. The network defenders at the 24th Air Force learned of the virus by reading about it in Danger Room.

[hosepipe]

Americans do like to hire traitors as Presidents..
Pinochet had the answer for handling a populace brain washed by communists..
He killed the bad seed(as a group) and gave Chile a restart.. then stepped away from politics,..

He should be a Hero, instead of Che Guevara..
Chile is the strongest government and economy in Latin America.. till this day..

[Sooth2222]

"Or is a massive screw up, leading to the question— why don’t these things have scuttling charges to blow them up, just like an errant missle."

I'd think so -- but apparently it's programmed to land safely if it's operators lose contact with it. I guess that program works OK when they're testing in California....

Then Zero refused to let the military blow it up after it landed.

[hosepipe]

Americans do like to hire traitors as Presidents..
Pinochet had the answer for handling a populace brain washed by communists..
He killed the bad seed(as a group) and gave Chile a restart.. then step away from politics,..

[aposiopetic]

Fake but accurate?

[Ronin]

I know this is easy for me to say, not being in charge or on the spot, but if I had been the admiral in charge of that task group, I would have ordered the damn thing destroyed regardless of the damage to my career. I can’t imagine they didn’t know where it landed.

China and Russia are going to be in a bidding war for that thing and the only thing that is certain is that America loses.

Un-fricking-believable...

[Michael Barnes]

Here's what I think happened (since we will never really know anyway....< adjusts tin foil hat >)

We did lose contact with a drone. Maybe it was "jammed" (there were reports last year that some of the's things were operating in "the clear"), maybe it was coincidence. Either way, whatever some think the drone was programmed for, it still wound up a smoking heap in Iran.
Iran on the other hand has a good idea what fell out of the sky and proclaims to have hacked our signal and land the bird, why, just look at that piece of crap..--., er, I mean recovered drone they are displaying! It's proof of persian 1337 prowess and awesome acquired mexican bondo technique.

tl;dr
We lost a bird, Iran is posturing with dumb luck.

[trumandogz]

We can hope the CIA is screwing with the Iranians by sending them a dummy drone and if not, it is nuts that they did not use the self destruct mechanism.

[stormer]

“...most sophisticated spy plane...”? Not even a bad guess. There is nothing sophisticated about these - they were designed with the likelihood of having them fall into enemy hands in mind, so there is NO sensitive technology included in their make-up. Frankly, the joke may be on the Iranians when power up the on-board software and begin to do some analysis and end up corrupting their entire military computer network.

[stormer]

“...most sophisticated spy plane...”? Not even a bad guess. There is nothing sophisticated about these - they were designed with the likelihood of having them fall into enemy hands in mind, so there is NO sensitive technology included in their make-up. Frankly, the joke may be on the Iranians when power up the on-board software and begin to do some analysis and end up corrupting their entire military computer network.