Lost RQ-170 Sentinel Drone!!!!

[fightingquaker13]

Worst case scenario Rastus, is that that the BGs (pick the culprit) DID figure out how to jam/spoof/override our controls. If that's the case they are idiots for demonstrating that capability while we stil have time to fix it. Given that conflict is looking more likely by the day, it seems to me that the smart play would have been to conceal that ability until the shooting started and then turn the lights out on our targeting capability. But then again, I'm not an Iranian.
FQ13

[Solus]

Interesting combination of "facts" here.

Some support Tyler's theory that it is a mock up, some support Tom's that it landed after a malfunction and some seem to support that it maybe be a Trojan Horse as suggested.

Would be nice to give them a piece of gear that they would believe was leading edge....and have all their R&R affected by and directed toward technology we could detect and defeat.  Even BHO asking for it back fits that pattern.

The only thing going against it is BHO's tendency to support the wrong side.   Of course, maybe Iran will be getting word it is a Trojan Horse while we thing they swallowed the bait.

[Solus]

Worst case scenario Rastus, is that that the BGs (pick the culprit) DID figure out how to jam/spoof/override our controls. If that's the case they are idiots for demonstrating that capability while we stil have time to fix it. Given that conflict is looking more likely by the day, it seems to me that the smart play would have been to conceal that ability until the shooting started and then turn the lights out on our targeting capability. But then again, I'm not an Iranian.
FQ13

Yeah    It does seem to fit the "stereotype" that they would shout from the roof tops that they have stolen one of our Secret Decoder Rings and can not intercept all our secret messages.

[jnevis]

Would be nice to give them a piece of gear that they would believe was leading edge....and have all their R&R affected by and directed toward technology we could detect and defeat.  Even BHO asking for it back fits that pattern.

There are some info out there that the RQ-170, although stealthy, isn't the upper end of the spectrum so to speak so the loss, although troubling, isn't exactly a "windfall of intelligence and technology" being played out in the press.  Figure it this way, Jane's is probably the worlds greatest intelligence agency, but if they have it in "All the World's Aircraft" and Combat Aircraft magazine has pictures, it's old technology and probably already obsolete.

[tombogan03884]

The one thing that argues against Tyler's theory, that it is a fake, is that the Govt. admitted they lost one.
The rest of what he posted is to oriented toward the technical aspects of Photo interpretation for me to comment on .

There are some info out there that the RQ-170, although stealthy, isn't the upper end of the spectrum so to speak so the loss, although troubling, isn't exactly a "windfall of intelligence and technology" being played out in the press.  Figure it this way, Jane's is probably the worlds greatest intelligence agency, but if they have it in "All the World's Aircraft" and Combat Aircraft magazine has pictures, it's old technology and probably already obsolete.

J has a point here, you do not see photo's of the pulse jet "Aurora" that replaced the SR 71 published in Popular Science, or Jane's do you ?
 

[Sponsor]

[Timothy]

I spent many a mid-watch browsing through the Janes books we had in our intel library!   

I think this thing has CIA spunk all over it personally!

[tombogan03884]

I spent many a mid-watch browsing through the Janes books we had in our intel library!   

I think this thing has CIA spunk all over it personally!

Who do you think originally pushed the drone program.
Comes to that, the CIA already had designs and prototypes for the U-2 before the Air Force got on board.

[jnevis]

The one thing that argues against Tyler's theory, that it is a fake, is that the Govt. admitted they lost one.
The rest of what he posted is to oriented toward the technical aspects of Photo interpretation for me to comment on .

Admitting you lost one, and losing one in good condition are two different things though.  I'm still not 100% sold on it not being a fake.  We admit to loosing a drone, but but that doesn't say what condition it was in when we lost it.  It doesn't take more than a few days for a fairly smart guy to get rough dimensions and build a close mock-up, especially if you have some peices to size it off of.  For all of their problems, Iran is full of "fairly smart guys."  It says a lot that they have kept their F-4s and F-14s airborne AND re-equiped them with locally built, reverse engineered, US and Russian weapons systems.

[Tyler Durden]

as far as Obama asking for the drone back, that could be done for a variety of reasons, but one that I can think of is to see how and if whatever available HUMINT resources available in Tehran jive up with whatever ELINT information we gather.  basically a quality control measure of intell gathering.

Obviously, if it is a fake, they won't be loading it up on a trailer, and driving it to the border so it can be handed over.

and if we never really did lose one in the first place, we could get to see what assets the Iranians would use to go search for a drone that isn't there.

Say like a month from now, we could release pictures of a new drone entirely, call it the RQ-180 Stingray or whatever, and then in March say that we lost one just to see what or how Iran interacts with Russia, China, and North Korea.