Iran has missing US Stealth Drone

[feralkid]

Message to the rest of the world:

Don't steal in Iran, you are subject to having parts cut off.

Couldn't resist...

 

[feralkid]

How much was that bad boy worth?

Was it armed, or not?

Probably not...I think the "RQ" designation means it's re-con.

 

[slayernine]

I guess it went out of RC range? Batteries died on the remote and the plane kept flying?

Their should be a remote detonator on these this that blow it up should it ever lose contact with main control.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Aikouka]

I would expect that the drones have programming to climb to a set altitude and dive vertical in the event of communication loss for a set period of time.

Given you're essentially creating a payload-less missile at that point, I highly doubt it. It would require a pretty good amount of on-board logistics to determine a safe crash zone.

If I were to guess how drones typically operate, I would assume that drones are loaded with flight/mission plans, and any loss of communication has them return to a predetermined route.

 

[lothar]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am somewhat surprised that no one brought up the the other SR-71 limitations.

On the up side the SR-71 flies far higher and longer than the U2 it replaced, so our human pilots are unlikely to fall into enemy hands.

But the huge downside of the SR-71 spy plane is in exactly that trade off between Altitude
and safety. As the quality of the aerial surveillance these planes gather is inversely proportional with altitude. And if cloud cover gets in the way, we get nothing. What the SR-71 can deliver is little better than the satellite tech we already have.

Aerial intel is best gathered at under 10,000 feet, and even then its only a small part of the bigger picture. Making a pilot less drone almost ideal for the job. But still to get the other half of the picture, it usually takes human intel on the ground.

An SR-71 Blackbird can see a golf ball from it's operating altitude of 80-101k feet.
Amazing that an airframe design dating back to the late 1950s, still holds every world record for absolute speed and altitude by a manned operational aircraft.

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/srqt~1.htm
You really need to watch some History Channel and Military Channel documentaries, this link above just doesn't do enough justice.

 

[davmat787]

An SR-71 Blackbird can see a golf ball from it's operating altitude of 80-101k feet.
Amazing that an airframe design dating back to the late 1950s, still holds every world record for absolute speed and altitude by a manned operational aircraft.

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/srqt~1.htm
You really need to watch some History Channel and Military Channel documentaries, this link above just doesn't do enough justice.

No kidding, the whole point of the SR-71 was to fly above airspace controlled by enemy SAM's. Not sure what LL is getting at. From what I understand, you want to fly either extremely high altitudes, or very low.

For an example at the other end, during the Cuban Missile crisis low level reconnaissance was performed at very low altitudes, maybe 1,000 feet or so max IIRC. Any higher the aircraft will be seen and/or tracked coming in. Fast and low and the enemy does not have time to react. Here is a photo from a low level flight during the crisis:

 

[Craig234]

If you support terrorism, brutally and violently suppress your own people, attempt to clandestinely undermine our war efforts in other nations, manufacture and proliferate nuclear weapons, we will... *drum roll* cut off your replacement airline parts.

You're right Craig, that's a pretty pussifed message. We should just reduce a few of their cities to rubble instead. /sarcasm

Uh, ya, they're worse about 'suppressing their own people' - people, by the way, we are supporting opposition groups in - and we're worse on the rest pretty much.

'support terrorism' - why is terrorism such a hyped theme in recent years? So that we can point our finger and demonize an enemy. If we kill 10,000 with the most powerful military in the world, that's not to be questioned as anything but ok, but if poor, weak enemies we're attacking use terrorism to kill 10 people in response, that's all that matters.

'attempt to clandestinely undermine our war efforts in other nations' - how ironic. So if Iran were off doing what we're doing, waging war for their own power - say in Central America - they'd be the 'good guys' and we'd be the bad guys if we 'attempt to clandestinely undermine' their war efforts.

Good thing we don't manufacture nuclear weapons, either.

But you think it's ok if England colonized the region in the earlier 20th century, backed the same sort of extremist religious militants we now say are a problem, if the US overthrew democracy to keep oil below a fair price and installed a dictator and US-trained secret police force that 'brutally and violently suppress your own people' which you condemn when it's convenient, and we side with Saddam in a war of aggression against Iraq that had a million casualties. No double standard and hypocrisy!

What would you say we're 'entitled' to do in retribution if they did those things to the US? But they can't do anything to us you say, as we build bases to invade them next door.

 

[Balt]

Although Iran has a domestic aerospace industry, copying an RQ-170 would be a big challenge for them.

The real "reverse engineering" will be when pieces end up in China and maybe even Russia. See what happened with the stealth Blackhawk which crashed in the bin Laden raid. Although China may be developing similar aircraft on its own, gaining a peak at how someone else solves problems is never a bad thing.

http://cnair.top81.cn/UAV/UCAV_SAC.jpg

Yup.

 

[0roo0roo]

Given you're essentially creating a payload-less missile at that point, I highly doubt it. It would require a pretty good amount of on-board logistics to determine a safe crash zone.

If I were to guess how drones typically operate, I would assume that drones are loaded with flight/mission plans, and any loss of communication has them return to a predetermined route.

or gps...

supposedly it wasn't that stealth.

assumption is these things will be lost eventually anyways

iran not providing proof anyways. and their long record of lies...you gotta wonder.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/12/did-iran-capture-a-u-s-stealth-drone-intact/
if they really had an intact drone they'd be showing it all over from day one.

 

[Lemon law]

Don't be a fool Davmat787, as you repeat exactly what I said.

Aerial recon at 1000 feet gives excellent pictures, at 80,000 feet, the resolution is not very good.

It just depends on the tech of the nation the spy plane overflies. Iran at least medium tech which is why our US drone may have been shot down. Afghanistan Taliban tech is extremely poor, which means US drones can fly far lower.

But still not as low as 1000 feet, because if the Taliban can visually see drones they know uncle Sammy is watching them which alters their behavior. About 13.000 is the sweet spot, as the Taliban is clueless that a US drone is watching them. And watching to see where they go after a mission.

But without better intel on the ground, Nato is clueless about the number of innocent woman and children a subsequent Nato attack will kill, such drone attacks can become badly counterproductive to the Nato rep.

 

[davmat787]

Message to the rest of the world:

Don't buy Boeing, you are subject to having parts cut off.

It is not just the USA imposing sanctions against Iran Air. Also, when I last looked at the latest bill regarding Iran Air, it was introduced by a Democrat out of California, will try and dig up some info. Also, Airbus is in the same situation with regards to Iran from what I understand.

Even more pressing than parts is simply finding a country where they can purchase fuel: Iranian Planes Refused Fuel in UK, Germany, UAE

http://www.voanews.com/english/news...-Refused-Fuel-in-UK-Germany-UAE-97800669.html

 

[davmat787]

Don't be a fool Davmat787, as you repeat exactly what I said.

Aerial recon at 1000 feet gives excellent pictures, at 80,000 feet, the resolution is not very good.

It just depends on the tech of the nation the spy plane overflies. Iran at least medium tech which is why our US drone may have been shot down. Afghanistan Taliban tech is extremely poor, which means US drones can fly far lower.

But still not as low as 1000 feet, because if the Taliban can visually see drones they know uncle Sammy is watching them which alters their behavior. About 13.000 is the sweet spot, as the Taliban is clueless that a US drone is watching them. And watching to see where they go after a mission.

But without better intel on the ground, Nato is clueless about the number of innocent woman and children a subsequent Nato attack will kill, such drone attacks can become badly counterproductive to the Nato rep.

No, I did not repeat what you said. You don't think there is a difference between flying at 1000 feet or lower, vs. the 10,000 feet you quoted? They either use near nap of the earth flying, or extremely high altitude with the U-2 or SR-71 back in the day.

Flying at 10,000 feet is asking for a SAM or man portable anti aircraft missile to fly right up your exhaust.

Do you understand the difference I am talking about now? If not, ask yourself what would be easiest to shoot down:

a) aircraft flying at 85,000 feet @ 500mph
b) aircraft flying at 10,000 feet @ 500mph
c) aircraft flying at 1,000 feet @ 500mph

 

[lothar]

Don't be a fool Davmat787, as you repeat exactly what I said.

Aerial recon at 1000 feet gives excellent pictures, at 80,000 feet, the resolution is not very good.

It just depends on the tech of the nation the spy plane overflies. Iran at least medium tech which is why our US drone may have been shot down. Afghanistan Taliban tech is extremely poor, which means US drones can fly far lower.

But still not as low as 1000 feet, because if the Taliban can visually see drones they know uncle Sammy is watching them which alters their behavior. About 13.000 is the sweet spot, as the Taliban is clueless that a US drone is watching them. And watching to see where they go after a mission.

But without better intel on the ground, Nato is clueless about the number of innocent woman and children a subsequent Nato attack will kill, such drone attacks can become badly counterproductive to the Nato rep.

Tell that to SR-71 Blackbird intelligence operators who can identify the difference between a rock, tennis ball, ping pong ball, and a golf ball flying at 100k feet.

 

[Mir96TA]

And their national airline, Iran Air, is falling apart because of the embargo against Boeing selling any parts or support.

O noo No, no, we let USS Vincennes with Captain William C. Rogers III do the Job
and after we awarded them Legion of Merit
:whiste:

 

[Arkaign]

Don't be a fool Davmat787, as you repeat exactly what I said.

Aerial recon at 1000 feet gives excellent pictures, at 80,000 feet, the resolution is not very good.

It just depends on the tech of the nation the spy plane overflies. Iran at least medium tech which is why our US drone may have been shot down. Afghanistan Taliban tech is extremely poor, which means US drones can fly far lower.

But still not as low as 1000 feet, because if the Taliban can visually see drones they know uncle Sammy is watching them which alters their behavior. About 13.000 is the sweet spot, as the Taliban is clueless that a US drone is watching them. And watching to see where they go after a mission.

But without better intel on the ground, Nato is clueless about the number of innocent woman and children a subsequent Nato attack will kill, such drone attacks can become badly counterproductive to the Nato rep.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/SR-71_Blackbird

"A closer view of the target area was given by the HYCON Technical Objective Camera (TEOC), that could look straight down or up to 45 degrees left or right of centerline. SR-71s were equipped with two of them, each with a six-inch (152 mm) resolution and the ability to show such details as the painted lines in parking lots from an altitude of 83000 feet"

 

[Arkaign]

and that was circa 1960-70s tech!

 

[EagleKeeper]

Given you're essentially creating a payload-less missile at that point, I highly doubt it. It would require a pretty good amount of on-board logistics to determine a safe crash zone.

If I were to guess how drones typically operate, I would assume that drones are loaded with flight/mission plans, and any loss of communication has them return to a predetermined route.

Locating a safe crash site would not be or a primary interest; the destruction of the bird would be.

I will agree, that it may be setup to try to reorient itself and get back to preset coordinate.

If it determines that it is unable to do so due to fuel; then the self destruct option would kick in.

 

[Darwin333]

And the plot thickens

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. officials say a drone that crashed inside Iran over the weekend was one of a fleet of stealth aircraft that have spied on Iran for years from a U.S. air base in Afghanistan.

They say the CIA stealth-version of the RQ-170 unmanned craft was also used to survey Osama bin Laden's compound before the May raid in Pakistan.
According to these officials, the U.S. has built up the air base Shindad, Afghanistan, with an eye to keeping a long-term presence there to launch surveillance missions and even special operations missions into Iran if deemed necessary. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified information.
The officials say that while no specific mission into Iran has been authorized, the military has contingency plans for such clandestine missions.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-12-06/us-iran-drone/51685874/1?loc=interstitialskip

 

[Craig234]

and that was circa 1960-70s tech!

A reminder of how amazing the Moon landing was.

 

[Nebor]

O noo No, no, we let USS Vincennes with Captain William C. Rogers III do the Job
and after we awarded them Legion of Merit
:whiste:

ULTRA KILL!
/Unreal Tournament Voice

 

[Patranus]

Such lack of leadership/balls by the Obama administration.
Inexcusable for not pulling the trigger on the planned an air strike to destroy it regardless of how far it was inside of Iran.

Then again, what should we expect from the president who has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood takeover several countries.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Such lack of leadership/balls by the Obama administration.
Inexcusable for not pulling the trigger on the planned an air strike to destroy it regardless of how far it was inside of Iran.

Then again, what should we expect from the president who has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood takeover several countries.

How would they know where the drone was to demolish it.
Is it worth more material and potentially manpower to destroy something that is at this point worthless.

This is not a "leave no man behind" situation. This is a cut you losses and plan for another day.

Nothing from Iran on the drone other than a statement; fragments of metal and plastic do not make a convincing story.

 

[hal2kilo]

Such lack of leadership/balls by the Obama administration.
Inexcusable for not pulling the trigger on the planned an air strike to destroy it regardless of how far it was inside of Iran.

Then again, what should we expect from the president who has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood takeover several countries.

Man you should volunteer and be like the orc with the torch at Helms Deep.

 

[Patranus]

How would they know where the drone was to demolish it.
Is it worth more material and potentially manpower to destroy something that is at this point worthless.

This is not a "leave no man behind" situation. This is a cut you losses and plan for another day.

Nothing from Iran on the drone other than a statement; fragments of metal and plastic do not make a convincing story.

Huh?

Looks pretty intact to me.

Anyways....

They had satellite footage of it going down and had plans in place to either recover it or destroy it.

Send in a Predator or F-117/A and blow that shit up.

Completely inexcusable.

 

[feralkid]

Huh?

Looks pretty intact to me.

Good for you, that is the most amazing diorama in the entire 5th grade class.