The Iranian Threat: Concerns US Drone Technology Being Passed to China
Iran has claimed to have reverse engineered a top secret United States surveillance drone to access its inner secrets. Fox News is reporting that US officials are concerned that the Chinese are being given access to the technology. The Chinese are particularly interested in the drone’s stealth coating.
This would not be the first time that the Chinese sought to have a look at the stealth technology of the United States. The Chinese also sought access to the tail of a US stealth helicopter from Pakistan after the same helicopter used to go after Usama Bin Laden crashed in their territory.
Intelligence sources also told Fox News that it is highly unlikely that the Iranians would be able to recreate the drone, despite what they claim. There is definitely more of a fear that they will pass the technology along than they will have use for it themselves.
While China may not possess significant technology to assist Tehran in its nuclear goals it can offer much needed veto power in the UN Security council or other diplomatic assistance.
Additional fears that the Iranians may show it to Russia raise fears as to whether the Russians would be willing to trade valuable ballistic missile technology.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, speaking on “Fox News Sunday.” also debunked the fears that Iran could use the technology themselves saying,
“I think there is a history here of Iranian bluster, particularly now when they are on the defensive because of our economic sanctions against them. I don’t have confidence at this point that they are really able to make a copy of it. It’s a very sophisticated piece of machinery.”
The CIA conducted a confidential 10 week review of what happened to the drone and what may have happened to allow it to fall into Iranian hands. There is also a fear that whatever malfunction lead to the drone going down it may also have lead to the drone not “dumping” it intelligence.
Based on the review, Fox News was told that the drone may have experienced a glitch in one of its three data streams. This malfunction may have caused the pilot to land the drone.
A congressional official, also familiar with the CIA review, said,
“We have looked at this eight ways to Sunday. I can tell you it was a U.S. technical problem. The (data) was not lining up and it was not the result of Iranian interference or jamming.”
The stated goal at this point is analyzing the situation that brought down the drone and making sure it does not happen again.
The Iranian Threat is a weekly column by Inquistr writer H. Scott English examining the nuclear standoff between The United States and Iran. The column focuses on in-depth intelligence analysis and sources throughout the world.
