Iranian military claims to have shot down an RQ-170

**Tanker** · 04 Dec 11,, 23:29

Originally Posted by TopHatter

Hmph, looks like this is the third time this has happened (or not)

From Al Jazeera:

Yeah, Iran is all talk and very little action. They make these wild claims, then make outlandish accusations, then say they will display the birds or whatever they capture and then nothing. Its pretty much the story of the government. They blame the west for everything yet make no effort to support anything...

**Tanker** · 04 Dec 11,, 23:33

Originally Posted by Doktor

You mean like Serbs had in 1999 when they shot down F-117?

The Serb captain said he saw a blip. It disappeared. It popped back up. Doing simple math he pointed the AAM at where they might be in that second and fired. The missile that took down the F117 took out a flight computer which is what keeps the Brick of a plane flying. It crashed. On one of the History Channel shows they interviewed the guy and the pilot. Neither showed any animosity towards each other.

**Double Edge** · 04 Dec 11,, 23:43

Originally Posted by TopHatter

this is another ho-hum attempt at distraction...in this case, from the British Embassy debacle.

which in turn could be seen as a distraction from the IAEA report ?

The pattern is upping the ante and to create a diversion or more.

**Zinja** · 04 Dec 11,, 23:52

But guys RQ-170? This is the latest kid on the block, this is a major set back for the US if indeed it is true. To think that Iran has the capability to foil and take over US's arguably most sophisticated UAV is just frightening. Moreover, if If indeed they did it by cyber warfare, then this is even a huge disaster for the US.

**USSWisconsin** · 05 Dec 11,, 01:37

It could have been dumb luck too, even an older AA gun (like a ZSU 23 or a 37mm) could bring one of those down - if it hit it. Suppose the drone flew right over the gun and the gun was ready - if the gun had a visual contact, a good gunner and some luck - it could happen (IMO). Being able to consistantly shoot them down would be another matter.

**GGTharos** · 05 Dec 11,, 02:03

They didn't shoot down squat:

Has Iran Killed This Advanced US Stealth Plane? (Updated)

Equipment fails. Iran's just pining for reasons to make noise right now.

**Tanker** · 05 Dec 11,, 02:09

Originally Posted by USSWisconsin

It could have been dumb luck too, even an older AA gun (like a ZSU 23 or a 37mm) could bring one of those down - if it hit it. Suppose the drone flew right over the gun and the gun was ready - if the gun had a visual contact, a good gunner and some luck - it could happen (IMO). Being able to consistantly shoot them down would be another matter.

I would have to say a VERY LUCKY shot indeed of that did happen. 170's have a service altitude of about 55,000ft and the range of engagement of a 23-4 is about a mile horizontal and 1.5 miles vertical. I have been to an active firing of this weapon and well I'm not impressed and seriously doubt a 23-4 engagement. If Iran does have a good cyber team then maybe but again I seriously doubt it.

**Repatriated Canuck** · 05 Dec 11,, 04:42

Originally Posted by Doktor

IIRC the radar the Serbs were using was some 1970's era equipment, while the Americans were so confident, like you now, that they can't be hit with that.

I brought this up years ago because I saw the pieces when I visited Belgrade. Officer of Engineers rubbished skill by pointing out that the same flight path was used over and over and over. The Serbs noticed and spammed the hell out of the sky in the area and got lucky. If he still reads perhaps he could confirm?

**NUS** · 05 Dec 11,, 07:15

Why are you obssesed with S-x00 and nobody remember about Iran AirForce?
All you need is a gun on a plane to take drone down.

**Zinja** · 05 Dec 11,, 07:46

From the tit bits coming out so far, this saga is very worrying whichever way you look at it. If it was a lucky shot, how did they know the Sentinel was there in the first place? If the Iranians managed to detect it by some equipment, wow! One doesn't even want to imagine the implications of this (What is the sentinel's signature compared to the raptor). Also, one would have thought for such a sensitive piece of equipment, if it was lost in enemy territory jets would be scrambled to bomb it to smithereens to protect the technology. Its been almost a week now since this happened and the US still doesn't know what happened to it? Its not like they don't know where and when it was last seen. One can only hope that it wasn't the sentinel itself but some other older gen uav

.

**Chunder** · 05 Dec 11,, 08:46

Geez, I might as well say that I slept with your mum last night, and half of you blokes would be speculating on what if I had, others would be postulating against me, and then, some would just sum up the accumulative decision that it doesn't look like it, and no baby pops out, then ignore it.

Im firmly of the latter.

**Jimmy** · 05 Dec 11,, 11:45

Originally Posted by Mihais

Gents,all you need in order to shoot down anything is the human eye and a weapon.We don't know the circumstances of this and we won't know for a long time because we don't need to know.

What is reasonble to guess is that in Iran right now Air Defense Olympics is ongoing.

It's a bunch of crap. The F-117 was targeted optically as it flew directly over the SAM crew for like the 3rd night at the row at the exact same time. 30 year old radars didn't detect/track 25 year old stealth technology (at the time) and 50 year old radars aren't going to detect/track cutting edge technology that's been on the streets for a couple of years at most.

Originally Posted by NUS

Why are you obssesed with S-x00 and nobody remember about Iran AirForce?
All you need is a gun on a plane to take drone down.

Because that's not really true. Look up at the sky. See how big it is? Now pretend your 40 year old tiny radar that has about 15nm effective range is trying to find something that's designed to not be found. The Iranian Air Force isn't being discussed because there's a better chance the drone was hit by a meteor. Those busted old F-4s and F-5s are not going to detect/track a small stealth aircraft flying at 50k+ feet and engage it.

**Mihais** · 05 Dec 11,, 12:04

What's crap?

**Chunder** · 05 Dec 11,, 12:10

The whole thread!

**diablo49** · 05 Dec 11,, 12:27

not total crap apparently

Iran says it shot down drone; U.S. admits one lost

Iran's military shot down an unmanned American drone over its eastern territory, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported Sunday.

"The spy drone, which has been downed with little damage, was seized by the Iranian armed forces," Al Alam, Iran's state television network, quoted an unidentified Iranian military source as saying. Iran called the incident a "violation of our airspace" and vowed an aggressive response.

The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan appeared to confirm that a drone had crashed in eastern Iran, saying that the aircraft Iranian media were referring to "may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft" that had been sent on a mission over western Afghanistan late last week and been lost.

"The operators of the (drone) lost control of the aircraft," said a statement from coalition forces in Kabul.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was "absolutely no indication" that the drone was shot down.

Pentagon officials had no immediate comment. Iran has previously announced that it shot down U.S. and Israeli drones in incidents that didn't lead to a significant response.

The drone was an American-built RQ-170 Sentinel, equipped with stealth technology, that had crossed into Iranian airspace from Afghanistan, an Iranian military official told IRNA.

The incident comes at a time of rising tension with Iran over its nuclear enrichment program. Tehran insists that the program will be only for domestic use, but Western nations and Israel, in particular, worry that the true purpose is to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran has been under international criticism in recent days over the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran last week by Iranians protesting new British sanctions against its central bank. Britain evacuated the embassy and expelled Iranian diplomats from London.

So the ISAF confirms a drone of some type crashed in Iran, and was lost in Western Afghanistan after the pilot lost control.

The wording seems to point to the option of being electronically taken over, but that sounds ludicrous if the drone crashed and wasn't forced to land in Iran. Can I guess that some navigational system of the drone was hacked and forced to crash land across the border?

This has serious implications, the US can't take over Iran's airspace unopposed if they can take down a drone like the RQ-170, F-teens would seem to be sitting ducks.

this is assuming it isn't mechanical failure. Even if it is only mechanical failure Iran likely has some new technology to study or pass on to China.

Still waiting on photos or videos to confirm type though.