On 5 December 2011, an American
Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel
The Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel is an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Lockheed Martin and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While the USAF has released few details ...
unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
(UAV) was captured by Iranian forces near the city of
Kashmar
Kashmar () ( fa, کاشمر, also Romanized as ''Kāshmar''; formerly ''Keshmar'', '' Torshīz'' or ''Soltanabad'') is a city and the capital of Kashmar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Kashmar is located near the river Shesh Tara ...
in northeastern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. The Iranian government announced that the UAV was brought down by its
cyberwarfare
Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic war ...
unit which commandeered the aircraft and safely landed it, after initial reports from Western news sources disputedly claimed that it had been "shot down". The United States government initially denied the claims but later
President Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
acknowledged that the downed aircraft was a US drone. Iran filed a complaint to the UN over the airspace violation. Obama asked Iran to return the drone. Iran is said to have produced drones based on the captured RQ-170 including the
Shahed 171 Simorgh
The Shahed 171 Simorgh (sometimes S-171 and called IRN-170 by the US government) is an Iranian jet-powered flying wing unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) produced by Shahed Aviation Industries.
Its design is based on a reverse engineered Ameri ...
and
Shahed Saegheh
The Saegheh (English: "Thunderbolt") is an Iranian turbofan/piston-powered flying wing unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) produced by Shahed Aviation Industries. It is based on, but smaller than and substantially different from, a Lockheed Ma ...
.
Capture of the drone
![RQ-170 from US Army recognition manual](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/RQ-170_from_US_Army_recognition_manual.jpg)
The government of Iran announced that the aircraft was brought down by its cyber warfare unit stationed near
Kashmar
Kashmar () ( fa, کاشمر, also Romanized as ''Kāshmar''; formerly ''Keshmar'', '' Torshīz'' or ''Soltanabad'') is a city and the capital of Kashmar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Kashmar is located near the river Shesh Tara ...
and "brought down with minimum damage" They said the aircraft was detected in Iranian airspace from the border with
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
.
The government of the United States initially claimed that its forces in Afghanistan had lost control of a
UAV
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
on 4 December 2011 and that there was a possibility that this is the vehicle that crashed near Kashmar. According to unnamed U.S. officials, a U.S. UAV operated by the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
was flying on the Afghan side of the
Afghanistan–Iran border
The Afghanistan–Iran border is in length and runs from the tripoint with Turkmenistan in the north to the tripoint with Pakistan in the south.
Description
The border begins at the tripoint with Turkmenistan in the Harirud river before procee ...
when its operators lost control of the vehicle.
There have been reports that "foreign officials and American experts who have been briefed on the effort" state that the crashed UAV was taking part in routine surveillance of Iranian nuclear facilities inside Iranian airspace.
The drone appeared to be largely intact, except for possible minor visible damage on its left wing. Dan Goure, an analyst at the
Lexington Institute
The Lexington Institute is a center-right think tank headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. It focuses mainly on defense and security policy.
History, staff, and positions
The Lexington Institute was founded in 1998 by former U.S. ...
, stated the largely intact airframe ruled out the possibility of an engine or navigational malfunction: "Either this was a cyber/electronic warfare attack system that brought the system down or it was a glitch in the command-and-control system." At least one US source admitted that Iran could have interrupted the data-link and brought it to a soft landing. Some US officials stated the drone broke into three pieces during impact. They claimed that it was reassembled for display purposes and was painted by Iran to hide the damage.
The
U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
released a statement acknowledging that it had lost control of a UAV during the previous week, claiming that it was "flying a mission over western Afghanistan" when control was lost. The statement did not specify the model of the aircraft. The U.S. government also stated that it was still investigating the cause of the loss.
A ''
Christian Science Monitor
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
'' article relates an Iranian engineer's assertion that the drone was captured by jamming both satellite and land-originated control signals to the UAV, causing the UAV to fall back to GPS autopilot. Iran followed up by a
GPS spoofing attack that fed the UAV false
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
data to make it land in Iran at what the drone thought was its home base in Afghanistan.
Stephen Trimble
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...
from
FlightGlobal
FlightGlobal is an online news and information website which covers the aviation and aerospace industries.
The website was established in February 2006 as the website of ''Flight International'' magazine, ''Airline Business'', ''ACAS'', ''Air ...
assumes UAV guidance could have been targeted by
1L222 Avtobaza radar jamming and deception system supplied to Iran by Russia. In an interview for
''Nova'', U.S. retired Lt. General
David Deptula
David A. Deptula is the Dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Power Studies (https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/), and a senior scholar at the U.S. Air Force Academy's Center for Character and Leadership Development. He transitioned from th ...
also said "There was a problem with the aircraft and it landed in an area it wasn't supposed to land".
American aeronautical engineers dispute this, pointing out that as is the case with the
MQ-1 Predator
The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator (often referred to as the predator drone) is an American remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics that was used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agency ( ...
, the
MQ-9 Reaper
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the Unit ...
, and the
Tomahawk
A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Europ ...
, "GPS is not the primary navigation sensor for the RQ-170... The vehicle gets its flight path orders from an
inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...
". Inertial navigation continues to be used on military aircraft despite the advent of GPS because GPS signal jamming and spoofing are relatively simple operations.
US acknowledgement
On 5 December 2011, U.S. military sources confirmed that the remains of an RQ-170 had been captured by Iranian forces. Media reports indicated that various U.S. officials declined to confirm whether or not the drone in the video released by Iranian state television was authentic. On 8 December 2011, a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told ''The Washington Post'' that the U.S. cannot be certain the drone shown was real because the U.S. does not have access to it, but also stated that "We have no indication that it was brought down by hostile fire."
A second senior U.S. military official said that a major question is how the drone could have remained "virtually intact," given the high altitude from which it is said to have crashed.
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told a news conference on 8 December 2011 that Pentagon analysts were examining the video.
Both Kirby and fellow spokesman George Little would not comment further on whether the U.S. military believed the drone was the one missing, both did say that the missing drone had not been recovered.
Later that day, CBS reported that the US officials had confirmed in private the authenticity of the drone shown by the Iranians.
On 6 December 2011, U.S. officials acknowledged that a drone crashed in or near Iranian airspace and that this belonged to the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
and not to
ISAF
' ps, کمک او همکاري '
, allies = Afghanistan
, opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda
, commander1 =
, commander1_label = Commander
, commander2 =
, commander2_label =
, commander3 =
, command ...
as was earlier stated. U.S. officials did not state that the drone shown on Iranian television was actually a real RQ-170 (which has been public knowledge since 2009), although a former U.S. official confirmed that the drone shown on the Iranian state media was a U.S. RQ-170, used for surveillance of Tehran's nuclear facilities.
Complaint to UN Security Council
On 9 December 2011, Iran lodged a formal complaint to the
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
over the UAV violating its airspace. Iran's U.N. ambassador stated in the letter that "My government emphasizes that this blatant and unprovoked air violation by the United States government is tantamount to an act of hostility against the Islamic Republic of Iran in clear contravention of international law, in particular, the basic tenets of the United Nations Charter."
Request for return by the United States
On 12 December 2011, the U.S. administration asked Iran to return the captured U.S. drone. The day before, on 11 December, General Salami stated that "no nation welcomes other countries' spy drones in its territory, and no one sends back the spying equipment and its information back to the country of origin." On 13 December 2011, Defence Minister of Iran, dismissed the request and said "Instead of apologising to the Iranian nation, it is brazenly asking for the drone back." And the
ministry spokesman,
Ramin Mehmanparast
Ramin Mehmanparast ( fa, رامین مهمانپرست) is an Iranian diplomat, the former spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry and the former ambassador to Poland and Lithuania. He was the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the head of the ...
, stated that "it seems he
bama
Bama or BAMA may refer to:
Places
* Bama, shortened form of Alabama, a state of the United States of America
** The University of Alabama, the public university serving the state, often known as simply ''Bama''
* Bama, one of the colloquial Burm ...
has forgotten that Iran’s airspace was violated, spying operations were undertaken, international laws were violated and that Iran’s internal affairs were interfered with... . Instead of an official apology and admitting to this violation, they are making this request."
Former U.S. Vice President
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
criticized Obama's decisions on the drone, saying that, after the aircraft went down, the president should have ordered an airstrike within Iran: "The right response to that would have been to go in immediately after it had gone down and destroy it. You can do that from the air ... and, in effect, make it impossible for them to benefit from having captured that drone." Instead, "he asked nicely for them to return it, and they aren't going to".
On 17 January 2012, an Iranian company said it would send miniature, toy versions of the captured drone to President Obama as a response to the request for sending the drone back.
Reverse engineering of the drone
![RQ-170 in Iran](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/RQ-170_in_Iran.jpg)
On 10 December 2011, Iran announced that it intended to carry out
reverse engineering
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
on the captured RQ-170 Sentinel
stealth aircraft
Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 N ...
. In April 2012, the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
claimed to have succeeded in extracting the entirety of the data collected by the drone and are currently in the process of building a replica of the aircraft. Iran claimed to have been approached by countries, including China and Russia, seeking information on the drone. Although U.S. officials expressed concern over the possibility of China or Russia receiving the drone's technology, they cast doubt on whether Iran could replicate the technology of the aircraft, as well as the amount of intelligence data available, due to the precautions installed for malfunctioning drones.
In May 2014, Iranian state TV displayed what was claimed to be a reverse-engineered RQ-170. Sources familiar with the RQ-170's design say that the Iranian RQ-170 is merely a static mock-up rather than a flyable aircraft. In November 2014 Iran claimed to have carried out a successful test flight of an aircraft based on reverse engineering of the RQ-170.
The semi-official
Tasnim Tasnim (''Tasnīm'') or Tasneem may refer to:
*a well of water in Paradise according to Islam
Given name
* Tasneem Essop, South African politician
* Tasneem Motara (born 1982), South African politician
* Tasneem Roc, Australian television and fi ...
news agency of Iran reported in September 2016 that a UAV named
Sa'egheh, similar in appearance to the RQ-170 Sentinel, had been built. It was said to be able to carry four
precision-guided bomb
A guided bomb (also known as a smart bomb, guided bomb unit, or GBU) is a precision-guided munition designed to achieve a smaller circular error probable (CEP).
The creation of precision-guided munitions resulted in the retroactive renaming of ...
s; the range was not stated.
In 2016 Iran unveiled the
Simorgh
Simurgh (; fa, سیمرغ, also spelled ''simorgh, simorg'', ''simurg'', ''simoorg, simorq'' or ''simourv'') is a benevolent, mythical bird in Persian mythology and literature. It is sometimes equated with other mythological birds such as the ...
, designed after the RQ-170.
The Israeli military shot down a Saegheh drone during the
February 2018 Israel–Syria incident
On 10 February 2018, an Israeli F-16I was shot down by the Syrian air defenses after conducting an air raid on Iran-backed positions inside Syrian territory. The aircraft was part of a larger Israeli aerial dispatch which Israel said was se ...
. Israeli media reported that the UAV's design was indeed largely based on the RQ-170,
IAF Brigadier General
Tomer Bar
Aluf Tomer Bar ( he, תומר בר; born 1969) is an Israeli general and current commander of the Israeli Air Force. Before his selection to succeed Amikam Norkin as commander of the IAF, Bar served as head of the IDF Force Design Directorate, a r ...
said that the drone was quite advanced and emulated Western technology.
Decoded footage obtained from captured US drone
On 7 February 2013, Iran released video footage allegedly from the RQ-170 stealth plane. They claim the footage shows the drone coming in for a landing at the Kandahar base. Commander of the Aerospace Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said in February that all the data on the downed drone was "fully decoded."
.
See also
*
Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force
"And You Did Not Throw When You Threw, But God Did Throw"
, start_date = 1933–1954 (Part of Ground Force)1954–2008 (Part of Air Force)2008–Present (As Separate Force)
, branch =
, type = Air defence
, command_structure= Artesh
, country ...
*
Yasir (UAV) – An Iranian UAV based on an American
ScanEagle
The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle is a small, long-endurance, low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, and is used for reconnaissance. The ScanEagle was designed by Insitu based on the Insitu SeaScan, a co ...
drone that was captured in a similar incident
*
Saegheh (UAV)
The Saegheh (English: "Thunderbolt") is an Iranian turbofan/piston-powered flying wing unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) produced by Shahed Aviation Industries. It is based on, but smaller than and substantially different from, a Lockheed M ...
– An Iranian UAV based on, but smaller than and different from, the RQ-170
*
Shahed 171 Simorgh
The Shahed 171 Simorgh (sometimes S-171 and called IRN-170 by the US government) is an Iranian jet-powered flying wing unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) produced by Shahed Aviation Industries.
Its design is based on a reverse engineered Ameri ...
– An Iranian full-size copy of the RQ-170
*
2019 Iranian shoot-down of American drone
On June 20, 2019, Iran's integrated system of Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force, Air Defense Forces shot down a United States Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, Global Hawk surveillance drone with a surface-to-air missile over the Str ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iran-U.S. RQ-170 incident
2011 in international relations
2011 in Iran
21st-century military history of the United States
Aviation accidents and incidents in Iran
Conflicts in 2011
Iran–United States military relations
Presidency of Barack Obama
Lockheed Martin
Kashmar