Iranian TV airs image of alleged U.S. drone

[News Feed]

Iranian TV aired images Thursday of what it says is the U.S. stealth drone that went down in Iran last week.

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[redrumloa]

Topper

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

"Alleged". Isn't it a bit late to call it alleged after you admit you lost one?
The funniest part is that Iran claims they flew it down, that is, they overrode US control and piloted it to a controlled landing. It does seem to be in very good shape - it seems to add credibility to the claim.

Imagine if they can do that with the armed drones as well. Who wants to play THAT game?

 

[Karlos]

This is bad news for the US intelligence agencies whichever way you want to spin it. Either the drone malfunctioned or it was detected, intercepted and captured.

Supposedly, if contact is lost the drone's software implements a contingency that will guide it back home. So, if it did lose contact, then this contingency failed. One might reasonably expect that in the case of a complete malfunction it would fly until out of power and ultimately crash.

The fact there is no apparent large-scale damage to the fuselage seems to discount that, unless it glided down. Everything we can see in the footage does tend to support the Iranian claim that they were able to detect, intercept it and recover it without damaging it (though we can't see the underside to know for sure). So, despite it's operational altitude, stealth profile and apparent inbuilt fail safe, it fell into the very hands of the people it was being used to observe.

Not sure what other scenarios are feasible, outside of deliberate sabotage on the operator side.

It does beg the question, do the Iranians really have that kind of (and I hate to use the buzzword of the day) "cyberwarfare" capability?

 

[the_leander]

The fact there is no apparent large-scale damage to the fuselage seems to discount that, unless it glided down.

Everything we can see in the footage does tend to support the Iranian claim that they were able to detect, intercept it and recover it without damaging it (though we can't see the underside to know for sure). So, despite it's operational altitude, stealth profile and apparent inbuilt fail safe, it fell into the very hands of the people it was being used to observe.

Not sure what other scenarios are feasible, outside of deliberate sabotage on the operator side.

A flat spin would also account for the lack of damage, given it's stealth profile it's unlikely to be an aerodynamically stable design, instead relying on computers to keep it straight and level.

It does beg the question, do the Iranians really have that kind of (and I hate to use the buzzword of the day) "cyberwarfare" capability?

The phrase you're looking for is electronic warfare - unlike the former it doesn't invoke a gag reflex

There is plenty of kit around on the open market that offers enormous capabilities at rock bottom prices, last generation kit being sold off by western powers often ends up like this.

 

[Glaucus]

Russians may have such equipment, and they may even be willing it to sell it to their proxies for a nice profit. It's possible but probably not highly likely. They'd probably need to have at least captured one of these before to get a good idea of the insides, and then try to find a hole in it's security. That's totally possible. They could have even have developed a stuxnet style virus to infiltrate the drones and then allow control switch over. But you'd also expect the US to recover downed drones or to at least destroy them (the article does say the US found the crashed drone via satellite and decided it was thoroughly destroyed - total contrast to those photos). Even when they can't, you'd expect them to audit their own security and change encryption keys routinely. I know there were some holes in the security recently, including un-encrypted video and a virus in a UAV control room, but I believe these have been addressed.

Certainly, if Iran did fly this thing down, it'll be a huge embarrassment for the US. But, will hardly put a dent in the US UAV program.

What is kinda interesting is that Iran seems more interested in parading this thing around then actually ripping it apart. It seems to be more of a propaganda tool then anything else.

 

[Karlos]

Certainly, if Iran did fly this thing down, it'll be a huge embarrassment for the US. But, will hardly put a dent in the US UAV program.

What is kinda interesting is that Iran seems more interested in parading this thing around then actually ripping it apart. It seems to be more of a propaganda tool then anything else.

To be fair, they only just released footage of it having made the claim some days ago that they'd captured it. I imagine that they wanted to prove they had it before stripping it down. It's a good propaganda win for them.

I can easily imagine that expensive, high-tech military equipment may contain lesser advertised contingency measures to frustrate unwanted prying, so the old "I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?" adage probably applies when dismantling it.

 

[Glaucus]

Ya, but there's reason to doubt what Iran says. They first claimed it was shot down, but does not appear damaged. Also, this is a stealth drone, meaning, they'd need some very fancy electronics to even detect it. Did they ever explain how they shot it down? There's a good chance this is a propaganda campaign directed internally - to convince their own people that Iran has the ability to confront the US. I think if they flew it down, the "shot down" cover story isn't gonna convince US specialists and you'd expect Iran would know that and not bother wasting everyone's time. Which would also beg the question: why unnecessarily reveal you can control your enemy's weapons? If I was Iran and could not only detect US stealth drones but also take control over them, I would keep that a well guarded secret. Wouldn't you? Embarrassing as it might be, the US isn't likely to repeat that mistake.

Of course it isn't likely that Iran completely fabricated a story either. Somewhere in this story there is truth - I just wouldn't place any bets on what that might be.

 

[Karlos]

Ya, but there's reason to doubt what Iran says. They first claimed it was shot down, but does not appear damaged. Also, this is a stealth drone, meaning, they'd need some very fancy electronics to even detect it. Did they ever explain how they shot it down?.

I'm not sure. Did they claim to have specifically shot it down, or was that just inferred in the original reporting?

If I was Iran and could not only detect US stealth drones but also take control over them, I would keep that a well guarded secret. Wouldn't you? Embarrassing as it might be, the US isn't likely to repeat that mistake.

Well keeping quiet about it wouldn't prevent the US from knowing they'd lost one and if they had any kind of telemetry received from it after it had been electronically hijacked, they might also know it had been subverted somehow. And even if they didn't, they'd soon put it together after any further drone was lost. In short, it's not a private hand they could keep for very long anyway so perhaps they thought they might as well milk the propaganda opportunity.

As for repeating the mistake, that depends on what the mistake was. In the "it was cleverly subverted and recovered" scenario, the operators are left on the back foot trying to figure out what the problem was. At the very least you might reasonably expect them to stop flying these missions until they do, which may be what Iran wants first and foremost out of the exercise for the moment.

 

[robert l. bentham]

iran scratches chinas back and china scratches irans... it is foolishness for anyone to think iran doesnt have "access" to advanced weapon systems technology...

 

[robert l. bentham]

if i had to venture a guess tho id say it was probably conducting a BDA (battle damage assessment) on those newly formed craters at all those strategic sites... or it was doing some recon of potential new targets... neither conclusion makes me feel "all snuggly" inside....

 

[cecilia]

maybe this drone is a Trojan Horse?

 

[Glaucus]

Well, Iran now publicly claims to have taken control of the Drone: Ahmadinejad: Iran has 'been able to control' U.S. drone

I still find it interesting that they would admit to such a thing. It seems they feel the propaganda win is more valuable then the military advantage of secretly controlling an enemy drone. This move is almost equivalent to the British & US making it public that they thwarted ONE uboat attack by deciphering the Enigma messages. I still find it hard to believe that Iran controlled it considering these things communicate via satellites, not regular radio waves. I think at best Iran (or someone else) may have developed a stuxnet-like virus that has gotten into the UAVs and causes random glitches. Still, the US is already shipping a totally new stealth drone to Afghanistan:
New Armed Stealth Drone Heads to Afghanistan (And Maybe Iran, Too)