Iran Wants To Clone Downed US Drone

PolygamousRanchKid sends this quote from the LA Times: "The Obama administration has sent a formal diplomatic request asking Iran to return the radar-evading drone aircraft that crashed on a CIA spying mission this month, but U.S. officials say they don't expect Iran will comply. 'We have asked for it back,' Obama said Monday at a news conference in Washington with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. 'We'll see how the Iranians respond.' His comments marked the first public confirmation that the RQ-170 Sentinel drone now in Iranian hands is a U.S. aircraft, though U.S. officials privately acknowledged that in recent days. Iran has claimed it downed the stealthy surveillance drone, but U.S. officials say it malfunctioned. Capture of the futuristic-looking unmanned spy plane has provided Tehran with a propaganda windfall. The government announced that it planned to clone and mass produce the bat-winged craft for use against its enemies." Iran has also demanded an apology from the U.S. for the drone flight in its airspace.

Comments

Re:Now these guys have some balls

[YrWrstNtmr]

Getting caught and then asking to return their spying device, lol.

Like the Russians asking for their MiG-25 back (they got it in boxes after much study), or the US asking China for it's EP-3 orion back (we got it and it is still flying today).

Step 2.... Step 3 profit

[mwfischer]

Obviously the next course of action is to air strike the shit out of it so the technology doesn't go into enemy hands.

Hey they asked nice, first.

Re:Now these guys have some balls

[gsnedders]

The MiG-25 was obtained by the West after a Russian pilot defected, aircraft and all. It had nothing to do with a Soviet aircraft being in airspace without permission.

Re:They already knew

[LWATCDR]

Actually under international law they are supposed to return any wreckage from an aircraft that crashes in their territory. That is during peace time. Also as long as the aircraft was not "military" and not armed it is not considered an act of war.

Re:Now these guys have some balls

[CrimsonAvenger]

Now that's just a police action, there's a difference. Hell if I know what it is.

It's a police action if the President can't get a Declaration of War out of Congress but does it anyway.

Sort of like Libya. Or the crap going down in Yemen.

Or arguably Iraq and Afghanistan (Congress told Bush he could do it, at least, though they wouldn't come through with a Declaration of War, so it's only "arguable").

Or Panama, Grenada, Vietnam, Korea (again, arguable, same reasons), Nicaragua (several times), many others through history.

Re:Now these guys have some balls

[icebike]

Exactly.

IF its that secret. But there are indications its not all that secret or sensitive (despite public statements to the contrary).

There is considerable speculation on the web that there is not that much secret stuff in this aircraft anyway, because it was fully expected they would have operational losses. See Here:

The design lacks several elements common to stealth engineering, namely notched landing gear doors and sharp leading edges. It has a curved wing planform, and the exhaust is not shielded by the wing.[10] Aviation Week postulates that these elements suggest the designers have avoided 'highly sensitive technologies' due to the near certainty of eventual operational loss inherent with a single engine design and a desire to avoid the risk of compromising leading edge technology.