US may have lost its most advanced RQ-170 drone over Iran
PTI | 02:12 PM,Dec 05,2011Washington, Dec 5 (PTI) US may have lost one of its most advanced drones over Iran, raising fears among officials here that Tehran may gain partial access to closely guarded American technology. Tehran claimed yesterday that it had shot down an advanced RQ-170 drone in eastern Iran and these unmanned surveillance planes are among the most sensitive in the American fleet, New York Times reported. The paper said that RQ-170 drones had been deployed only recently and the stealth version of the UAV was flown for hours on repeated occasions over Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad in Pakistan earlier this year, without being detected by Pakistani air defences. But the shooting down of this drone could compromise US technology to Washington's arch foe Tehran. NYT said for months there have been unconfirmed reports that the same drone was being used regularly over Iran, presumably to hunt for hidden nuclear or missile sites. In a statement yesterday, US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan said that the drone "to which the Iranians are referring maybe an US unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week." The ISAF statement said that operators of the remotely controlled drone aircraft lost control of it. But it did not say, what kind of drone was lost or what might have caused the loss. (MORE)
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