Iran Replicating Captured U.S. Drone RQ-170 Sentinel

Iran has broke the encryption codes and begun construction of a replica of the United States surveillance drone captured last year, according to Iranian officials. Iranian military aerospace chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted having said:

“The Americans should be aware to what extent we have infiltrated the plane.”

Tehran has claimed that the RQ-170 Sentinel was brought down with their electronic warfare capabilities. Washington, much to the contrary of Iran’s claim, has indicated that the surveillance drone malfunctioned and was subsequently captured by the Iranians who chose to first display the unmanned aircraft on Iranian TV before initiating a project intent on reverse-engineering the technology in order to recreate their own copy of the stealth drone.

U.S. Senator Joe Liberman has dismissed Iran’s claims of building a copy as an “Iranian bluster,” as he was quoted by BBC having said:

“They’re on the defensive because of our economic sanctions against them.”

Regardless of Liberman’s remarks, Gen. Hajizadeh stated:

“Our experts have full understanding of its [RQ-170 drone] components and programmes.”

While Washington has long requested that the Iranian government return the drone, Iran has refused and instead proposed that the United States apologize for invading Iranian air space.

Hajizadeh insists Iran has hacked the controls of the drone, which has allowed them to reverse-engineer the state-of-the-art surveillance aircraft. Washington claims precautionary security measures were incorporated into the drone in order to limit the amount of exploitable data and technology.

Regardless of how Iran managed to capture the RQ-170 surveillance drone, do you believe that the Iranians are capable of reverse-engineering the technology in order to build their own stealth drone?

The Beast of Kandahar RQ170 Drone Video: