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Iran 'captures another US drone aircraft'

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shinobi602

Member
04lede_iran-blog480.jpg


Link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxAAeNs--Ss&feature=player_embedded

Here's an image of the drone on Boeing's website:

scaneagle20050416-M-0502A-005.jpg


As my colleague Thomas Erdbrink reports from Tehran, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps displayed on Tuesday what state television channels described as a captured American drone that had entered Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf “in the past few days.”

While the small craft shown on the Iranian satellite channels Press TV and Al Alam resembled an image of a ScanEagle drone on the Web site of Boeing’s Insitu Group, which manufactures the vehicle, a spokesman for the United States Navy said “We have no record that we have lost any ScanEagles recently.” The spokesman also insisted that the American “operations in the gulf are confined to internationally recognized water and air space.”

The Iranian channels did not say exactly when the drone had come into their hands, but the state news reports came one year after a similar announcement by the Revolutionary Guards. Last December, the Guards displayed an American RQ-170 Sentinel high-altitude reconnaissance drone that had crossed into Iran from Afghanistan, in what United States officials called a mistake caused by a computer malfunction.

Like last year’s event, the presentation of the drone to Iran’s media was carefully stage-managed by the Revolutionary Guards. In Tuesday’s display, the craft was installed in the sort of diorama that would not look out of place in the American Museum of Natural History — but for the fact that the legend behind the vehicle read, “We Shall Trample on the U.S.”

Iran’s Fars News Agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, trumpeted the news with an editorial cartoon showing the two drones sharing an Iranian birdcage as their new home.

Fars, which has run into problems by lifting material from other Web sites in the past, also illustrated its report with photographs of a ScanEagle drone apparently copied from a Dutch news agency site after a Google Image search.

The drone on display on Tuesday did not appear to have an American military markings, and, as the Dutch agency’s report makes clear, not all of the unmanned aerial vehicles in operation belong to the United States. According to the Dutch Defence Press, “Dutch army U.A.V. operators started training for ScanEagle operations at Insitu’s facilities in the United States early 2012. Both systems are expected to achieve operational capability by late 2012.”

It was not immediately clear if anyone in Iran plans to produce a toy replica of the new drone for collectors, as one Tehran firm did last year.

Source
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B

bdouble

Member
Oh another accidnt. So thats what 2 captured and another shot down. Id say this is pretty intentianal and the US needs to quit lying to people ots just way too obviois.
 
C

Cat Party

Member
Fars, which has run into problems by lifting material from other Web sites in the past, also illustrated its report with photographs of a ScanEagle drone apparently copied from a Dutch news agency site after a Google Image search.
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Never change, Iran.
 
J

jorma

is now taking requests
shinobi602 said:
I don't see anything wrong with that really. They just added a picture to show what the drone looks like, not saying "This is the drone right here".
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back in the good old days they used to demonise the enemy by accusing them of drinking the blood of babies and shit like that. Not "omg those Iranian copyright violators.. nuke them!". Weaksauce.
 
Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Member
Kad5 said:
What countries besides the US send drones into Iran?
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Drones are a lot cheaper and easier than human spies, which I'm sure we also have, along with Russia, China, UK, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. Probably even more. If you are going to allocate resources to spying, Iran and NK would be at the top of the list.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Dreams-Visions said:
If there are no US markings, why are we to believe it was ours?
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ScanEagle operators:

Australia: Australian Defence Force
Canada: Royal Canadian Air Force
Colombia[18]
Netherlands: Royal Netherlands Army[19] Royal Netherlands Navy[20]
Singapore: Republic of Singapore Navy[21]
Poland[22]
United States: United States Marine Corps, United States Navy
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I'm going to take a leap of faith and say that I doubt it was Singapore's.
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
Funky Papa said:
ScanEagle operators:



I'm going to take a leap of faith and say that I doubt it was Singapore's.
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Indeed, and pretty much everyone else is outside the realistic range for where the device was supposedly found. Since we operate them off navy ship (and likely do some of our regional partners), its either ours or one that we gave/sold to someone in the region.
 
V

Valkyr Junkie

Member
Funky Papa said:
ScanEagle operators:


I'm going to take a leap of faith and say that I doubt it was Singapore's.
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Apparently the UAE operates them as well.

The latest news update I read on this case today said that the Navy has all of their drones accounted for, but they've lost some in the sea over the years. It's possible one just now washed up, or Iran has fished some out of the water over time and is unveiling one now as a political play.
 
S

Saiyar

Unconfirmed Member
Phoenix said:
Indeed, and pretty much everyone else is outside the realistic range for where the device was supposedly found. Since we operate them off navy ship (and likely do some of our regional partners), its either ours or one that we gave/sold to someone in the region.
Click to expand...

BBC said:
Other nations in the region, including the United Arab Emirates, also operate ScanEagles - low-cost, long-endurance aircraft with a 10ft (3m) wingspan, Associated Press says.
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Given the US navy denial it is most likely a UAE drone.
 
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