US Analyst: Iran’s Downing of US Drone Major Blow to US Security

The US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft was brought down with minimal damage by the Iranian Army's electronic warfare unit on Sunday, December 4, 2011, when flying over the northeastern Iran city of Kashmar, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) away from the Afghan border.

Goure dismissed the US claims that the drone had simply 'malfunctioned' or crashed in Iran, asserting that "Long-range UAVs are programmed to return to base if contact is lost with their controllers."
He added that a platform as sensitive as the RQ-170 would have had such a 'carrier pigeon' program in its guidance computer and, under normal conditions, would have flown home.

On December 6, two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to CNN that the drone was part of a CIA reconnaissance mission, involving the US intelligence community stationed in Afghanistan.

Iran has announced that it intends to carry out reverse engineering on the aircraft, which is similar in design to a US Air Force B2 stealth bomber.
Tehran says that the US drone spy mission was a "hostile act," adding that it will lodge a complaint with the United Nations over the violation of its air sovereignty by the intelligence gathering aircraft.

Meanwhile, following days of silence on the US drone, US President Barack Obama said Washington has asked Tehran to return the US reconnaissance drone.

"We've asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," Obama said in a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday.
The plea comes as the US and CIA refused to adopt an official position after Iran aired footage of the captured unmanned aerial vehicle.

Source: News agencies, edited by moqawama.org