Iranians shoot down US drone?

[Blue Oval84]

Just coming through on Sky News now, apparently the Iranians are claiming to have shot down a US drone in the east of the country.

How long do fellow PH'ers give it before things kick off properly out there, or is it all just posturing and sabre rattling?

Personally I think if anything happens it will be Israel that walks up and kicks them in the nuts first, but I don't know much of the situation so am just speculating

[AndyACB]

You could ask why a US drone is flying over Iran in the first place.

[Blue Oval84]

Well that was also forefront in my mind when making the post, no smoke without fire, it wasn't out on a pleasure flight was it?

[Badgerboy]

More likely some diplomatic slurs, and then back to simmer.

The point a manned aircraft gets shot down is the point the game changes, but drones allow them to push the limits a tad.

[davepoth]

AndyACB said:

You could ask why a US drone is flying over Iran in the first place.

When they say "the east of Iran" they mean some Iranian soldiers on the Eastern border shot down a drone in Afghanistan I expect.

[Marf]

AndyACB said:

You could ask why a US drone is flying over Iran in the first place.

So it gets shot down?

[CrashTD]

davepoth said:

When they say "the east of Iran" they mean some Iranian soldiers on the Eastern border shot down a drone in Afghanistan I expect.

The RQ-170 is specifically designed to avoid radar detection. Given the Taliban have no radar capability you have to wonder why they chose to take these to Afghan.

Excursions beyond Afghanistan have been rumoured for years.

[Countdown]

CrashTD said:

The RQ-170 is specifically designed to avoid radar detection. Given the Taliban have no radar capability you have to wonder why they chose to take these to Afghan.

Excursions beyond Afghanistan have been rumoured for years.

Rumoured? They've been used extensively in Pakistan.(and now Iran it seems)

[Marf]

Precisely.

[Marf]

I wasn't questioning it, merely tentatively providing a reason as to why there was a drone in their airspace.

Yes, they have a right to shoot it down, nothing I said is counter to that. Equally it wouldn't surprise me a jot if the US were testing the Iranians air defenses.

[Victor McDade]

What, just a drone? Schoolboy stuff.

The big boys prefer Airbuses full of civilian passengers.

[AndyACB]

This story just gets better

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011/12/2011124...

Now the Iranians are claiming they hacked into it and landed it themselves.

[Marf]

However unlikely it is, it's not that hard to believe

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/insurgents...

[CrashTD]

AndyACB said:

This story just gets better

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011/12/2011124...

Now the Iranians are claiming they hacked into it and landed it themselves.

Even the septics cant even land a UAV properly.

[AndyACB]

also, interesting quote from Wiki about the drone itself

wikipedia said:

The design lacks several elements common to stealth engineering, namely notched landing gear doors and sharp leading edges. It has a curved wing planform, and the exhaust is not shielded by the wing.[10] Aviation Week postulates that these elements suggest the designers have avoided 'highly sensitive technologies' due to the near certainty of eventual operational loss inherent with a single engine design and a desire to avoid the risk of compromising leading edge technology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_RQ-170_Sentinel

[Mr GrimNasty]

It's hardly surprising, the Iranians are arming/helping the Taliban, so the Americans would be looking for supply lines etc.

[Streps]

Iran said in the past that two pilotless spy planes it had shot down over its airspace were US-operated and offered to put them on public display.

Iran also claimed to have shot down a drone, but never shared video or photographic evidence.
They also claim to have a "Ghadir" radar system.

Interesting if they have an electronic warfare capability.

Edited by Streps on Sunday 4th December 16:48

[Mr_B]

If they have shot down 3 before, I would have thought they would go all out to get the evidence on TV across the world. Lets see what happens with this 4th one.

[ringram]

CrashTD said:

AndyACB said:

This story just gets better

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011/12/2011124...

Now the Iranians are claiming they hacked into it and landed it themselves.

Even the septics cant even land a UAV properly.

.. they cant even shoot the right side combatants, so why would you think they could land anything!?

[AndrewW-G]

Streps said:

Interesting if they have an electronic warfare capability.

Iranian cyber warfare team courtesy of Dilbert (actualy Elbonian, but close enough)