Video of Top Secret US drone - looks intact in Iran

[Fern]

Just as with Sandra Afrika, the real interesting stuff is on the back side. Why would they not show the backside of the plane in the video ?

Yeah, I wanted to see the back as well.

What powers the thing?

And damn, it looks cool. Am expecting toy models to be out soon.

Fern

 

[feralkid]

That's one fugly mock-up.

Ain't it the truth?

 

[davmat787]

Yeah, I wanted to see the back as well.

What powers the thing?

And damn, it looks cool. Am expecting toy models to be out soon.

Fern

My guess would be a small turbofan, about the size of one on a small bizjet. I assume fuel efficiency and noise are important factors. I can't imagine they designed a new turbofan just for this project, rather took an off the shelf turbofan and maybe made some modifications.

edit: according to wikipedia RQ-170 page, the powerplant could be a GE-TF34, a turbofan the military is familiar with already having used it on the S3 Vikings. The max thrust is 9750 ft pds, for comparison the GE90-115 found on 777-300's put out 100,000-115,000 ft pds or more of thrust.

If the dimensions are correct, this UAV is much larger than I had assumed.

 

[Jhhnn]

My guess would be a small turbofan, about the size of one on a small bizjet. I assume fuel efficiency and noise are important factors. I can't imagine they designed a new turbofan just for this project, rather took an off the shelf turbofan and maybe made some modifications.

edit: according to wikipedia RQ-170 page, the powerplant could be a GE-TF34, a turbofan the military is familiar with already having used it on the S3 Vikings. The max thrust is 9750 ft pds, for comparison the GE90-115 found on 777-300's put out 100,000-115,000 ft pds or more of thrust.

If the dimensions are correct, this UAV is much larger than I had assumed.

From the size of what the Iranians are displaying (if real- who knows?) a much smaller engine is likely, like this-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_&_Whitney_Canada_PW600

 

[irishScott]

Still waiting on those CONFIRMED sources Patranus. One link does not a confirmation make.

 

[davmat787]

From the size of what the Iranians are displaying (if real- who knows?) a much smaller engine is likely, like this-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_&_Whitney_Canada_PW600

You could be right, I was just going off the wiki page which is of course a great source for top secret project info. My point was more that a small, off the shelf turbofan is likely the powerplant, which seems to be the case. No need to reinvent the wheel.

From what you have seen, would you estimate the UAV to have a wingspan of around 10 meters? And a height of 8-10 feet? That is the other specs wiki shows, wondering if that jives, I can't watch the vid now.

 

[davmat787]

From the size of what the Iranians are displaying (if real- who knows?) a much smaller engine is likely, like this-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_&_Whitney_Canada_PW600

Looks like it is indeed a GE TF34, found several articles stating that. Due to its size, purported speed, and having only one engine, I would assume it needs more than 3000 ft pds.

The RQ-170 is powered by a single General Electric TF34 turbofan engine which produces 9,275lbs of thrust.
The TF34 is designed and built by US based engine manufacturer General Electric Aviation.
It generates high thrust to weight ratio, consumes less fuel and minimises operational cost.
The TF34 boasts dual stage high pressure turbine, four stage low pressure turbines, annular combustor and 14 stage high pressure axial flow compressors.

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/rq-170-sentinel/

 

[feralkid]

 

[Tom]

And it has been confirmed by the Pentagon that the video is real.

It has also been confirmed that Obama halted the Pentagons plants to recover or destroy it before it fell into Irans hands.

(And to the billion dollar business idea thread - the claim is that Iran did this through a cyber attack - something I mentions in response to civilian drones)

If true, Obama would have to decide if invading Iranian territory, an act of war, was worth it; most likely not.

And there's nothing wrong with other countries developing counter-measures to our espionage efforts, it's part of the game.

 

[sm625]

They're just handing technology to Iran so that the Iranians can reverse engineer it and come up with a worthy countermeasure. By doing this they ensure the maximum amount of casualties once a war breaks out. (ie once they start one.) They need to soak up all the unemployed morons who gave all their tax money to this swollen pus-filled edifice of corruption known as the military industrial complex.

 

[Triumph]

better hope that jeff goldblum isn't working for the iranians

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UApyd20yK5s

 

[uclaLabrat]

LOL - I guess John Stewart didn't cover it on last nights Daily Show.

Let me provide you an adult news source.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...orted-images-downed-us-drone/?test=latestnews

Are you a fan of irony? Fox news is now an adult news source?

Lulz!

 

[airdata]

Are you a fan of irony? Fox news is now an adult news source?

Lulz!

Yeah. I don't watch the daily show much anymore. But they do cover news, they simply have fun w\ the idiocy and irony of situations. Whereas fox news takes themselves seriously while making asses of themselves.

 

[Texashiker]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/10/drone-computer-virus-air-force.html

and

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/A...s-Nuisance-Rather-Than-Serious-Threat-101053/

Do you honestly believe everything the US government shovels out to the people?

If the drone program was compromised, do you really think the government is going to admit to it? No, they are not going to admit it. Doing so would undermine the publics confidence level.

 

[Whiskey16]

By doing this they ensure the maximum amount of casualties once a war breaks out. (ie once they start one.)

A war of pre-emptive choice, such as the post-Gulf war aerial strikes and the war beginning in 2003, were routes to ensure casualties.

I reasonably fail to see a route where Iran will strike first. The USA has displayed a belligerant record of being unreasonable.

 

[rudder]

I call bullshit on Iran taking control over it.

First of all, the on-board computer systems are encrypted. Second of all, even if you knew how to defeat the encryption, you would also need to have the proprietary software to fly the thing, which includes proprietary hardware the software is sitting on. Meaning, there is no way to interface with the device.

The story about the unit using an auto pilot program to land itself after communication loss makes perfect sense and that's what happened folks.

Look at the room Iran has that thing sitting in - look at the uniforms of the military officials. These people are not capable of hacking into and taking over this unit.

People have gotten reams on information on nuclear weapon building from Sandia labs. It is not inconceivable that the same thing happened to the blue prints and code of this drone.. Someone could be enjoying a nice pay day right now, while Iran is gloating about their new toy they purchased.

In the event of a loss of communication it is supposed to return to base.

 

[sm625]

Is there any talk of Iran shipping this back to the US? It would be a bigger finger in the eye imo if they did that. They should put the letters L O L on the side of the shipping container.

 

[Paul98]

Plan:

1. Take a drone that is 5 generations behind, and that will make other countries think they know how to detect and use our best.

2. make changes to a couple parts that don't work quite right and give off something we can see.

3. "crash" drone in enemy territory.

4. "Confirm" that it's a super top secret drone.

5. Let them reverse engineer it.

6. Go to war with Iran.

7. Profit.

LOL

 

[Brovane]

Has there been any confirmation from credible sources that this is the drone and not some type of Iranian mockup?

 

[William Gaatjes]

I call bullshit on Iran taking control over it.

First of all, the on-board computer systems are encrypted. Second of all, even if you knew how to defeat the encryption, you would also need to have the proprietary software to fly the thing, which includes proprietary hardware the software is sitting on. Meaning, there is no way to interface with the device.

The story about the unit using an auto pilot program to land itself after communication loss makes perfect sense and that's what happened folks.

Look at the room Iran has that thing sitting in - look at the uniforms of the military officials. These people are not capable of hacking into and taking over this unit.

Since there is a lot of propaganda, you might be surprised to find out they are doing some state of the art medical research there.
Iran is not a backward country. We in the west often claim we are superior based on religious and cultural freedom. But when we go back 50 years, the difference was a lot less and only a century ago, women got the right to vote in the west but had to cover up as well with respect to clothing. But even after that, women where deemed by many men to be to stupid to follow any technical or scientific study coarse. Only the last 40 years we see emergence of more liberal (and intelligent) views for men and women in the west.

As a sidenote:
As an electrician with a little bit of RF background :
The plain will land when the communication is lost yes ?
What if the Iranians where able to find out at what frequencies communications between the drone and the command center where taking place ? Would it then not be possible to send out a high power signal directed at the receiving frequency for the drone. Then the drone will no longer receive any commands because the receiver inside the drone will not be able to decode commands properly and assume communication was lost.
It is similar as that you whisper to me and another person starts shouting next to you. I will not be able to hear you and i have to assume lost communication.

But even then, i would assume the drone would fly back to a preprogrammed set of coordinates (GPS) and land outside enemy territory behind friendly borders. If this is not the case, then that is a huge design flaw.
I would think the drone malfunctioned or the drone has design flaws.