I thought drones were trained to withstand torture...
BECAUSE IT'S IN THE NEWS as if it was a car crash on I-95.
I'm sure this is/was self destruct hardware on board. We're not that stupid.
I think this was a intelligence coup for the Chicoms, Russians, and Iranians. I don't believe the official story in the least. Iranians shoot down a stealth drone and recover it mostly intact? BS, they got that thing delivered gift wrapped. All that was missing is the bow.
Decades and billions of dollars worth of stealth tech delivered in a day. Great job Obama!!!
If it’s the LA Times, you can add “We Hope” to that headline.
Is it just me that thinks it is insanity that this thing not only landed itself but did so in enemy territory and was not destroyed either by design or a nice 500 pounder from an aircraft.
The CIA? Well, I think the middle initial needs changing.
First thing I thought of was , “Oh yeah! That sounds like the ol’ Trojan Horse routine to me.” Whatever it was, was probably taken back to the darkest recesses of the pajama factory where they reverse engineer stuff. So we now know where to pin point the first strike.
I could be wrong but that was my first thought. That software is pre-programmed as to what to do if contact with pilot is lost. AS was said above. we aint that stupid.
From Wikipedia:
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
They don't have any hostages.
Yet.
They don't have any hostages.
Yet.
Piece this thing together with Radio Shack junk, remote control parts and some completely made-up non-funtioning supercool looking chips, then "lose" it over Iran.
Maybe I'm optimistic, but could we really be putting up truly cutting edge stuff without a self-destruct feature?
Why did not the drone self destruct before the enemy got his hands on it, like in the 1960’s TV show “Misson Impossible”? I smell a rat.
If the Iranians captured it intact, they would already be posing around it and posting photos to embarrass us.
That UAV has so many stealth features the Iranians couldn’t acquire the target. Why haven’t the Iranians how they shot it down, their air force would be braying like a pack of mules if they had done it.
It also has a self destruct feature. It also can not be jammed and redirected, yup, we thought of that.
What if the Iranians were, say, doing a lot of strange digging and we needed a closer look that satellites couldn’t deliver. What if that UAV went OOPS! out of control and just happened to stray over that area until it ran out of fuel.
OK, we’ve learned a bit since Frances Gary Powers...........
I don’t believe the Iranian claim they shot it down...it must fly high, and is supposed to avoid radar. I’m a little skeptical the Iranians would know it crashed, or even be able to find it. But my biggest question - doesn’t our Air Force destroy downed planes...i.e. find it, and bomb it? The whole thing seems odd.
Hmm, sounds like somebody I can trust.
Were Bush still in office, the “media” would’ve splashed all over itself creating the narrative about the “incompetence” of the administration is failing to safeguard sensitive military technology.
UNLESS... the drone was crashed on purpose so it could be tracked maybe with full video and audio...
I think the Iranians should hurry up and download all the programs from the drone’s computers as soon as possible, for analysis.