TaiidanTomcat Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 (edited) http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/obama-asks-iran-rq-170-sentinel-drone-back/story?id=15140133#.TufQ37Kc5do President Barack Obama said today the U.S. has requested that Iran return the highly sensitive stealth drone that crash landed there two weeks ago, but an Iranian general already said that's not going to happen."We've asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," Obama said at a news conference. Obama said he wouldn't comment further "on intelligence matters that are classified." A senior Iranian military commander, however, said on Iranian television Sunday that not only would Iran not turn over the drone, but warned of a "bigger response" to the "hostile act" of crossing into Iranian airspace. "No one returns the symbol of aggression to the party that sought secret and vital intelligence related to the national security of a country," Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [iRGC] Lt. Commander Gen. Hossein Salami said, according to Iran's Fars News Agency. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said told reporters today that "given Iran's behavior to date, we do not expect them to comply" with Obama's request. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also said he didn't expect Iran to hand over the drone, but told reporters, "I think it's important to make that request." Several Iranian state-run media reports claim the country plans to "reverse engineer" the RQ-170 Sentinel and "will replicate the captured U.S.-built stealth aircraft in the future." In another report featured on Iranian television, an Iranian lawmaker claimed the country's experts were almost finished extracting data from the drone and would be using some of it to file a lawsuit against the U.S. for its "invasion," according to a report by The Associated Press. "Military experts are well aware how precious the technological information of this drone is," IRGC Aerospace Forces Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said last week according to local reports. "It can play a key role in Iran's intelligence interactions with the U.S. rivals." The Sentinel, an unarmed long-range surveillance drone known as The Beast of Kandahar, was such a closely held secret that the U.S. Air Force did not even acknowledge its existence until late 2009. Panetta said it was unclear what technological value the drone could still have, depending on its condition. "It's a little difficult to know just frankly how much they are going to be able to get from having obtained those parts," Panetta said. "I don't know the condition of those parts -- I don't know exactly what state they're in -- so it's a little difficult to tell what they are going to be able to derive from what they have been able to get." According to U.S. officials, the drone was on a classified surveillance mission for the CIA in western Afghanistan when operators lost control due to a malfunction. From there, the drone glided into Iranian airspace before crashing. The Iranian military initially claimed it had "shot down" the drone, but later said it was able to bring it down with relatively little damage through an electronic attack. Pentagon spokesperson Capt. John Kirby told reporters last week there was no indication the drone was brought down by "hostile activity of any kind." Edited December 13, 2011 by TaiidanTomcat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SoarinSukhoi Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 The request was probably mostly for show. Any attempts to forcefully get it back or destroy it would anger Iran and I doubt we really want to be in another possible conflict. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Netz Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 We should have sent another drone and bombed it. Curt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Horrido Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 What we really need: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TaiidanTomcat Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 Im kind of disappointed he didnt go with "Whoever took it, if you return it there will be no punishment" Or "I'm going to turn off the lights and it had better reappear, or the whole class is staying after school" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phasephantomphixer Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Another Fine Mess. No self destruct-how high tech... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
otis252 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I'm sure they will do as Obama ask. HAHAHAH Chuck Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SoarinSukhoi Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 What we really need: If we had technology like that would we even need the drone. :lol: Im kind of disappointed he didnt go with "Whoever took it, if you return it there will be no punishment" Or "I'm going to turn off the lights and it had better reappear, or the whole class is staying after school" Don't give them any ideas. Another Fine Mess. No self destruct-how high tech... I'm not aware of any modern vehicle that has a self destruct mechanism. It's a bad idea and not high tech. One should never run into the situation where they would need for it to self destruct unless they were using it as an IED. Any shock or spark has the possibility to set off the explosives it is carrying. A better idea would be to have a long range air-to-air or ground-to-air missile targeting the drone and launched if it is compromised. If it was hacked like the Iranians say, then the real problem lies in the software and the fact that it was probably wrote with the impression that nobody would have the ability to hack into it. We underestimated our enemy once again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dndieje Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Im kind of disappointed he didnt go with "Whoever took it, if you return it there will be no punishment" Or "I'm going to turn off the lights and it had better reappear, or the whole class is staying after school" It's what he probably said before asking for the drone back. "Oh great, now everyone will want one". Smart move though, by claiming ownership the US also implies that Iran is holding the thing illegally. Could be a "give it back or else" in more diplomatic terms. Don't want to resurrect a closed thread (honestly) but what does Iran exactly plan to do with it once they "re-engineered" the thing ? Don't you need satellites to operate it ? Last thing I heard Iran had at best 3 (including one Russian) and at worst none. How are they going to operate it ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Icehound Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 It will make a fine Lawn ornament once all the hi-tech stuff is removed and the whole drone cloned. A fine mess. M Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pastafarian Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I was listening to NPR earlier and the commenter made a really good point about not placing self destruct charges in a drone. A big one is that it could be interpreted as an attack (looks like incoming, explodes like incoming rounds). Also, he said that such devices are not very reliable, so to place all faith in such an item isn't a good idea. This guy said that it was much easier to simply have the drone fry certain electronic components. I'm not sure why this would be more reliable than instructions to self destruct would be. The good thing about such a command is that the drone just crashes and can't be interpreted as a weapon or provide usable intel. On a related topic, I find it hilarious that Iran is already claiming that they can control the drone. If they have the ability to hack the software and create a program to interface with the drone within a few days, why the heck haven't they been able to create drones for themselves? LOL JOhn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TaiidanTomcat Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 I was listening to NPR earlier and the commenter made a really good point about not placing self destruct charges in a drone. A big one is that it could be interpreted as an attack (looks like incoming, explodes like incoming rounds). Also, he said that such devices are not very reliable, so to place all faith in such an item isn't a good idea. This guy said that it was much easier to simply have the drone fry certain electronic components. I'm not sure why this would be more reliable than instructions to self destruct would be. The good thing about such a command is that the drone just crashes and can't be interpreted as a weapon or provide usable intel. On a related topic, I find it hilarious that Iran is already claiming that they can control the drone. If they have the ability to hack the software and create a program to interface with the drone within a few days, why the heck haven't they been able to create drones for themselves? LOL JOhn Stop with that common sense approach, I might just have to stop panicking if you keep that up. as for the self destruct you are right, and usually you have the ability to destroy it on the ground using secondary means. (IE a smart bomb etc) its been alleged that options for destruction were discussed but then declined. I think this is Iran's sputnik moment, as in a piece of sputnik-like-tech fell on their house, thus they are cosmonauts now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TaiidanTomcat Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 It's what he probably said before asking for the drone back. "Oh great, now everyone will want one". LOL Now Iran's "Show and Tell" will be the same as ours! "Barack, if you didn't want to share you should not have brought it..." Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GEH737 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Well "Operation Crossbow" would certainly explain "spontaneous human combustion"... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I hate when the grumpy old neighbor won't give back the Frisbee ! <_< Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
J.C. Bahr Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I hate when the grumpy old neighbor won't give back the Frisbee ! <_< Hehehe... that's when it's time to pelt his house with eggs! Hmmm... wonder how Ahmanutjob would react if a B-2 flew over and dropped a bomb-bay load full of eggs on his presidential palace???? Perhaps drop a warning leaflet with them... saying that forking his yard, TP'ing the trees and shaving cream on his limo will be next if the drone's not turned over! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rank11 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 If we had technology like that would we even need the drone. :lol: Don't give them any ideas. I'm not aware of any modern vehicle that has a self destruct mechanism. It's a bad idea and not high tech. One should never run into the situation where they would need for it to self destruct unless they were using it as an IED. Any shock or spark has the possibility to set off the explosives it is carrying. A better idea would be to have a long range air-to-air or ground-to-air missile targeting the drone and launched if it is compromised. If it was hacked like the Iranians say, then the real problem lies in the software and the fact that it was probably wrote with the impression that nobody would have the ability to hack into it. We underestimated our enemy once again. QF-4s and QF-16s have explosive self destruct mechanisms. But of course if the software was compromised, there is no guarantee that the self destruct would have worked either. But there are modern vehicles that routinely operate with a self destruct mechanism. And yes, things are starting to look a bit parrallel with 1941, when we looked down on an angry small country with people that wasn't smart enough to do anything to us either... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pastafarian Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Stop with that common sense approach, I might just have to stop panicking if you keep that up. as for the self destruct you are right, and usually you have the ability to destroy it on the ground using secondary means. (IE a smart bomb etc) its been alleged that options for destruction were discussed but then declined. I think this is Iran's sputnik moment, as in a piece of sputnik-like-tech fell on their house, thus they are cosmonauts now. Sorry. They're gonna fly it over the US and take pictures of everyone neekid!!!!!!!! Better? LOL John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eri Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 oh well.. it ll be available at 1/4 of the retail price once it gets to China... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JasonW Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 This guy said that it was much easier to simply have the drone fry certain electronic components. I'm not sure why this would be more reliable than instructions to self destruct would be. The good thing about such a command is that the drone just crashes and can't be interpreted as a weapon or provide usable intel.I work with a guy who was ground crew for the SR-71. He was telling me they had a similar setup on the Blackbird called DEF DESTRUCT where if the crew was ejecting they hit a button and it fried all the critical electronics and counter-measures etc. Can't for the life of me figure out why you wouldn't have some sort of similar setup (either automatic or triggered by certain parameters or on command)on these drones. Simple fact of the matter is that if you're going to fly these things over enemy territory like this you probably need a way to prevent the technology from falling into enemy hands completely intact as this one did. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
eharrold44 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Military action and a possible war with Iran over a lost drone is highly unlikely, especially since no one has any idea how valuable it will be to them. So, that leaves official and back channel diplomacy, which probably won't work. If anything, we'll get the thing back in several large containers sometime around 2014. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IrishGreek Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 ... back in several large containers sometime around 2014. With tracking labels from Moscow and Beijing... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SBARC Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Iran should return it in exchange for F-14 parts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dmanton300 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Still, for all the wailing and bashing of teeth, it's important to remember that, like it or not, Iran has done nothing wrong here, and what happens to that drone is at the whim of the Iranians. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SoarinSukhoi Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Iran should return it in exchange for F-14 parts. That might actually work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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