Iran Displays US Drone It ‘Electronically’ Captured

[Purveyor]

The US military said it had lost control of a Sentinel drone earlier this week, but US officials have dismissed Iran’s claims that the aircraft was deliberately brought down in an electronic attack and guided to the ground.

Iranian television has been broadcasting footage of the captured drone and a Pentagon spokesperson said in response that US officials are examining the footage.

However, officials told ABC News yesterday that the craft on display was likely a model and not a working drone. They later conceded that the drone may have been reconstructed from parts as it was unlikely to have landed intact.

--CLIP
In accessing a drone, the Iranians have the opportunity to examine its technical components and surveillance tools including a highly-advanced radar. They could also potentially hack into the drone’s database, however it’s not clear what, if any, data could be recovered.

MORE...

http://www.thejournal.ie/watch-iran-displays-us-drone-it-electronically-captured-300513-Dec2011/

[Purveyor]

1. Could The US Drone Have Been Compromised In September's Computer Attack On A US Air Base?

The Iranian video footage of the downed RQ-170 drone suggest that either Iran has one hell of a set of model builders or they somehow managed to compromise a highly secure US computer network.

If it's the latter, it may be no coincidence that in October Noah Shactman broke a story out of Creech Air Force base exposing a widespread computer virus that had fully infected drone operations. Two months ago it was believed the drones most likely to suffer from such and attack would be Reapers or Predators, but the RQ-170s also fly out of Creech AFB.

If the Iranians somehow breached the drone network and were able to reprogram the drone to make a gentle landing, in country, from 50,000 feet, it would be a military and engineering coup.

The RQ-170 doesn't require an outside signal to fly or navigate, so the suggestion that the drones signal could have been jammed is not entirely likely.

http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-drone-virus-creech-air-force-base-2011-12

[StandingInLeftField]

2. Most likely scenario

[Exultant Democracy]

3. Drones, land mines of the sky, good to know we are spreading this tech around.