Iran official: We tricked the U.S. surveillance drone to land intact
Speaking with the Christian Science Monitor, Iranian electronic warfare specialist says Iranian forces tampered with the RQ-170's GPS to make it think it was landing in its Afghanistan base.
By Haaretz Tags: Iran threatIranian electronic warfare specialists were able to "trick" the recently downed U.S. surveillance drone to land on Iran soil intact, Iranian engineers said in an exclusive interview with the Christian Science Monitor on Thursday.
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Iranian military officials inspecting what they say is a U.S. drone, Dec. 8, 2011. |
| Photo by: Iran TV |
On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama indicated that the United States had officially requested that Iran return the secret RQ-170 Sentinel drone, after Iranian TV displayed the craft in what they considered to be a great victory.
Speaking with the Christian Science Monitor on Thursday, Iranian military officials said that they were able to cut off communication between the U.S. drone and its operators, and reconfigured the drone's GPS to make it land where it thought was its home base in Afghanistan.
"The GPS navigation is the weakest point," the Iranian military official told the Monitor, calling the downing an "electronic ambush" of secret drone.
"By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain," he added.
The engineer added that the Iranians were able to make the drone land "on its own where we wanted it to, without having to crack the remote-control signals and communications” from the US control center."
Last week, Iranian state television displayed what it said was a downed U.S. surveillance drone, days after U.S. officials expressed concern that Tehran would be able to glean information about a classified military program.
According to the semi-official Fars news agency, in the televised segment, commander of the Revolutionary Guard's Aerospace Forces Amir Ali Hajizadeh said that Iranian forces uncovered the aircraft as it was about "to infiltrate our country's airspace for spying missions."
"[A]fter it entered the Eastern parts of the country, this aircraft fell into the trap of our armed forces and was downed in Iran with minimum damage," Hajizadeh told Fars.
According to the Iranian military official, the drone was "equipped with highly advanced surveillance, data gathering, electronic communication and radar systems," saying that "this kind of plane has been designed to evade radar systems and from the view point of technology it is amongst the most recent types of advanced aircraft used by the U.S."
"The technology used in this aircraft had already been used in B2 and F35 planes," Hajizadeh added, saying the "aircraft is controlled and guided through satellite link and land stations in Afghanistan and the United States."
"Military experts are well aware how precious the technological information of this drone is," Fars quoted Hajizadeh as saying.
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But that thing in the video is not a real drone.
Every Piece of Technology has some vulnerability.
Have you ever heard the old saying "nothing and no one is is invinsible"
now we know why israel is not in a rush to commit suicide.
and end this stupid hostility.
Now, who said Iran would be a cake-walk?
The landing gear still has not been shown so the full story is yet to be corroborated. Wait till Iran sees and feels the electronic ambushes that certain countries have in store for it.
China and Russia are on line ! No UN resolution for a long long time !
The drone in the video is a fake.
and their poor conduct is just a means to gain attention? Everything from their statements on the Holocaust to what they say about Israel to their official announcements by the leaders just seems like gestures of acting out. I think these guys need to grow up.
...errm cutting off the control while over someones territory and so... is this the end of the drones and the end of the long range rockets ?
Wait till they open the Trojan Horse, nobody really understands the real deal!!!!
Or, it could simply be a malfunction of the drone. Jamming its communication is possible, but to able to reconfigure its GPS software is a stretch of the imagination.
GPS receivers are receivers, and they receive positioning information from satellites. In order for a GPS receiver to "think" its in the wrong location, would require the frequency of the satellite to be altered. This would require hacking into the satellite itself and also the ground tracking control station in the US. These guys are making themselves look foolish to anyone that understand GPS technology. By their statement, they are saying they can alter any positioning information for any vehicle, which would include commercial aircraft transiting Iranian airspace. What they are claiming is a joke !
The question is, what can they do with it.
it is extremely important. Knowing that we can prevent similar kind of occurance next time...
And if they can't, they can sell it to the Russians or Chinese. This is a total embarrassment to the US.
really?
even smarter than u!!!!!
weakening out military...
I doubt it...you give them too much credit.
they would have built it themselves already