US data in Iranian hands after downed drone?

Fox News ^ | 2/10/2012 | Catherine Herridge

[U-238]

The 10-week investigation into the downing of a CIA drone in Iran is raising questions as to whether the malfunctions inadvertently may have handed the Iranians not only the aircraft but its data.

Based on the review, a former intelligence official told Fox News that investigators think one of the drone's three major "data streams" began sending back bad information to its U.S.-based operator.

A leading question is whether the bad data caused the drone's operator to inadvertently land the aircraft.

But it also raises the possibility that the faulty data stream could have prevented the drone from dumping the intelligence it had collected. When a drone malfunctions, it is programmed to dump data so it does not fall into the wrong hands.

A former intelligence official confirmed to Fox News that the CIA's comprehensive review has been unable to replicate the specific malfunction that brought down the drone in Iran. Contact was lost with the drone and its operators on Nov. 29.

A congressional official, also familiar with the CIA review, said: "We have looked at this eight ways to Sunday. I can tell you it was a U.S. technical problem. The information (data) was not lining up and it was not the result of Iranian interference or jamming."

While efforts to reproduce or replicate the malfunction have failed, investigators are now focusing on how to prevent a repeat in the future -- but without the hardware or the drone itself, those efforts have been challenging.

While the former intelligence official said the Iranians do not have the ability to integrate the multiple data streams on the drone platform, the loss of the CIA drone could allow Tehran to gather information about materials and hardware. The intelligence data is thought to be encrypted and not easily accessed.

[U-238]

Well, the failsafes failed in this case. Now comes the who is to blame part.

[U-238]

Well, the failsafes failed in this case. Now comes the who is to blame part.

[U-238]

Predator and Reapor planes do have USB drives to update maps and transport mission videos from one computer to another

[Domandred]

I didn’t say anything about said USB drive having anything to do with the drone, other than the “downed” drone being the delivery method.

[U-238]

I read you. Who really knows.

[KTM rider]

scenario to me screams : pilot got captured while operating, administration wants to say something else happened to the aircraft

[steve8714]

He was waiting for clearance from lawyers.

[Hulka]

Yes, and the lack of any proof is proof of how good the cover-up actually is.

The UAV experienced some sort of malfunction unrelated to anything the Iranians might have done. . .if the Iranians even knew the thing was there. (The Iranians didn’t know it was there, otherwise they would have seized the platform immediately after it touched-down).

The UAV went into a lost-link flight profile and eventually ran out of fuel, however, the on-board electronics still functioned and kept the platform trimmed and therefore balanced, and this accounts for the relatively low level of damage-—it glided in fully trimmed.

The UAV was designed many years ago and was designed to operate in hostile airspace, not just in permissive airspace.

News “reporters” rarely have a clue about what they are reporting on, and in this case, the news reporters are making stuff up because they don’t know a darned thing.

[Hulka]

Yeah. . .while operating the UAV from his on-base operator station in Creech AB, Nevada.

[KTM rider]

Ah Ok I always thought these needed operators within a certain proximity to establish a satellite link , my bad, so there goes the conspiracy theory of deliberate downing , too many eyes and ears at a US airbase, not plausable

[KTM rider]

OR a solar flare EMF broke the com link , we are entering the 11 year cycle of peak solar flare activity

[KTM rider]

Currently, the U.S. Air Force uses a concept called "Remote-Split Operations" where the satellite datalink is located in a different location and is connected to the GCS through fiber optic cabling. This allows Predators to be launched and recovered by a small "Launch and Recovery Element" and then handed off to a "Mission Control Element" for the rest of the flight. This allows a smaller number of troops to be deployed to a forward location, and consolidates control of the different flights in one location.

evidently yhe system needs a forward operating team in line of sight proximity on the ground because of the sattelite delay between controller joystick and vehicle, it can be launched 400 miles away and handed off , so capture of the forward operating base is a possibility, NO ?

[KTM rider]

....or the forward operating team was KIA

[Levante]

What a f*king joke.

[Hulka]

Safety observers are there to monitor the launch and recovery, not as some sort of comm-link.

There is no requirement for this UAV (or Predator) to have a direct line-of-sight satellite feed as the data is passed through. . .satellites. . .and latency between what a controller puts in and the UAV actually moving is negligible and hardly noticeable.

The quote you provide talks about helping launch and recovery,not operations, and a “capture” of the UAV electronically can’t happen. . .especially with the Iranians or even the Chinese or Russians. . .the signal is encrypted and secure and beyond their capability.