Well, I'll be damned. On Dec. 8th, 2011, Fox News reported that "U.S. officials have confirmed to Fox News that images aired by Iranian state television do in fact show the secret U.S. drone that went down last week in eastern Iran." The article added another quote: "Yep, that's it . . . And it's intact."
There are still many ways the drone could have lost contact with its handlers, glided to the ground, and suffered minimal damage. And it would be nice to hear from a few more "officials" on this, as the Iranian claims still require skepticism. However, the sight of an intact, authenticated drone in Iranian hands seems to at least raise the question of a cyber attack.
***
ABC News with the opposite view, quoting their own officials: "The craft displayed did not appear to be the highly sensitive RQ-170 Sentinel and might be a model in part because U.S. imagery indicated the Sentinel had not landed intact." However, the article notes that the Iranians could have "reconstructed the drone for display on television."
Leave a Reply