[alex2011]

Basically what he says they did, was they jammed the communication link base-to-uav, and when the drone goes into fail-safe auto pilot mode. They spoof the GPS signal to make it think its in friendly territory to land. GPS is very weak signal from Geo Sync sats and is not encrypted. The drone obviously didn't have any other backup navigation like INS, or radio beacons, etc..

[Tallguy]

GPS is very weak signal from Geo Sync sats and is not encrypted. The drone obviously didn't have any other backup navigation like INS, or radio beacons, etc..

I think I understand what is being suggested here, but aren't military GPS signals encrypted? Wonder how difficult that would be to 'crack'?

[dragnet2]

The Iranians are not quite as stupid as the Iraqis.

[US_MilitaryRules]

This problem can be easily solved. Build a drone as a solid bomb and have them hijack it! Heh heh heh.

[DoughtyOne]

Sounds like Tehran Bob is on the air...

We’re led to believe the drone’s signal was blocked, and in reaction it landed intact at an enemy airbase, without new programming.

I’m thinking the drone had backup programing, but I doubt seriously it included landing intact at a random enemy airbase so an enemy could have pristine access to all it’s technology.

This would make a great thing to place on a small paper, and wrap bubble-gum with.

[tcrlaf]

Not really surprising.

Communications is always the Achilles heel of remote operations, of any kind.

You can bet the Chinese and Russians have been working on a solution for that, for a LONG time.

And it’s also why the idea of a pilotless fighter fleet is just fantasy.

[RightOnTheBorder]

If true, why tell us. If that really was the weak link we can fix it. Why not say nothing and knock a few more down before we caught on?

[MichaelP]

They might very well have done it. The fact that it landed safely in Iran kind of back up that story. If so, heads ought to roll for not think of that possibility. It still should have been destroyed though...

Mike

[MichaelP]

They might very well have done it. The fact that it landed safely in Iran kind of back up that story. If so, heads ought to roll for not think of that possibility. It still should have been destroyed though...

Mike

[Moonman62]

The drone obviously didn't have any other backup navigation like INS, or radio beacons, etc..

If they were able to spoof the GPS signal, backup navigation systems wouldn't be activated.

[DannyTN]

If the drone wasn’t over Iranian territory when they hi-jacked it, then that’s an act of war.

Proper retribution would be the complete elimination of the Iranian air force and missle systems.

[Cicero]

It still wouldn’t have happened if Obama hadn’t refused permission to destroy it. He obviously wanted to give Iran and China a little prezzie. First the stealth helicopter that went down in Pokistan, and now this.

[TankerKC]

Basically what he says they did...

Do you believe them?

[joe fonebone]

just read a report about this..... a general says the welds are wrong, the landing gear is not shown, and the size is incorrect... this is a mock up, not one of our drones.... remember GI Joe....

[Spok]

Sooooo...does a military drone start to acquire the characteristics of its CIC? Maybe the drone was looking for a spot to take a vacation.

[Zeppo]

Seems like what is needed here is a “Trojan Drone”.

[thouworm]

original source article for Haaretz article:

Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer

"In an exclusive interview, an engineer working to unlock the secrets of the captured RQ-170 Sentinel says they exploited a known vulnerability and tricked the US drone into landing in Iran."

[PieterCasparzen]

IMHO...

They undoubtedly did what they said.

But they are not smart, the design is seriously deficient for combat.

(hint, hint, need 2 modes, combat and non-combat; before it gets shipped to combat, you take out the peactime module and stick in a combat module, which is identical except for distress logic).

Why can’t the big defense contractors think of this stuff ?????????????

And I notice the price of these things is still sky-high.

Ridiculous.

[jpsb]

I am surprised there is no "dead reckoning" back up software should primary navigation fail or appear to be incorrect. That would have been simple to implement.

[M. Thatcher]

You people BELIEVE this? Geez. “We genius Iranians made this happen.” Yeah, right.

[dragnet2]

BTW, if anything should be in “breaking news”, this should be it, rather than, “Time Person of the Year: The Protester”.