1. #11
    Just thinking out loud here.

    You wouldn't need to make it explode.
    You could have chemical burn systems in and around the high tech. Or automatic short circuits to burn out high tech and info it had acquired. And simple dynamite chord or similar to cut into sections to fall harder afterwards.

    Although I can see our Military arrogantly thinking, since its Stealth and has virtually no signature. How could anyone find it, and target it with any ground base, electronics to take over its control. Thus not anticipating a failure requiring a destruct system.
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  2. #12
    A perfect demonstration of the folly we commit when we eliminate cockpits in favor of gadgetry. Only our most primitive enemies are unable to mess with the satellite link it depends on.
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  3. #13
    DrHerb's Avatar Senior Member
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    It doesn't seem to be covered in radar absorbent material, plus, I didn't see any USAF markings on it, although, that could be explained that it's a secret drone so no markings are on it, ect ect.
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  4. #14
    I noticed the landing gear and undersurfaces were deliberately covered up by the flag/screens. Either to not show the gear still down and possibly hacked or lots of wires etc and dents galore?? I remember as a kid the usaf used to recover objects in flight with c-130s etc, even the weather balloon/spy baloons. Could it be possible this thing was snatched in the air, or forced down by a controllable object, similar to what happens when a plane would hit a barrage ballon etc? Fanciful and far fetched indeed, hacked and landed against its will per se in the open desert, on a road etc. All are possibilities no doubt being explored. It seems they also knew it was down and had talked about destroying/recovering it as well. Bad enough to get caught in someone elses airspace, now can we please have our toy back. Anyone remember a couple of years a ago a chinese mig collided with a us navy plane P-3 orion? it it was forced to land on a Chinese airbase and all the technology was potentially compromised??

    Then again it wouldnt take the Iranian movie prop people long to build a mock up and display it with any twisted metal with wires/gizmos hanging out to gump the general public. Either way it dosnt bode well for the diplomatic communitys efforts to keep everyone safe and happy against Irans potential nuclear threats etc.

    Then the news story about the US military incinerating left over body parts from the Dover AFB morgue... now thats intriguing and disturbing, shame on the gov for that fiasco, goes right along with whos buried where in Arlington!!
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  5. #15
    DrHerb's Avatar Senior Member
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    If it is what they say it is Stugumby, lets see them throw some fuel in it and start it back up. Hell, if they can claim that they hacked into it's data link, lets see them get it to run. If not, I'd say it's bunk.
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  6. #16
    Heliopause's Avatar Senior Member
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    Reminds me of a Cylon space ship
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  7. #17
    horseback's Avatar Senior Member
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    Originally posted by stugumby:
    I noticed the landing gear and undersurfaces were deliberately covered up by the flag/screens. Either to not show the gear still down and possibly hacked or lots of wires etc and dents galore?? I remember as a kid the usaf used to recover objects in flight with c-130s etc, even the weather balloon/spy baloons. Could it be possible this thing was snatched in the air, or forced down by a controllable object, similar to what happens when a plane would hit a barrage ballon etc? Fanciful and far fetched indeed, hacked and landed against its will per se in the open desert, on a road etc. All are possibilities no doubt being explored. It seems they also knew it was down and had talked about destroying/recovering it as well. Bad enough to get caught in someone elses airspace, now can we please have our toy back. Anyone remember a couple of years a ago a chinese mig collided with a us navy plane P-3 orion? it it was forced to land on a Chinese airbase and all the technology was potentially compromised??
    If they did hack it, having it in Iranian airspace would not be necessary; assume for the moment that the drone was flying along the Afghan border using sidelooking sensors and was then 'taken over' and flown deep into Iran and landed (I'm not saying that that was actually the case, but I am throwing it out there, along with the possiblity that it may simply have malfunctioned and ended up in Iran because that was the direction it was pointing when it 'malfunctioned'. I would admit or deny nothing, given the parties involved.).

    It would not even necessarily have been native Iranians who did the hacking; I'm sure that there are plenty of 'advisors' on hand from the Peoples' Republic or Russia with certain skills.

    As for the Orion that was bumped into by the Chinese fighter that was shadowing it over international waters in early 2001 (remember how the media were talking about Bush's '..first real test?'), I think that you'd find that the sensors on that particular aircraft were superior to what was available to China's military not because they didn't understand the theory/technology, but because they lacked the manufacturing capabilities or the on base (i.e., once the plane had landed and handed over its recordings) ability to analyze the signals detected and recorded.

    The Soviets had a nearly as good understanding of digital theory as the US during the Cold War; it was the capacity to industrialize it and build the tech that held them back; the same problems hamstring the Chinese and the Iranians today.

    They know what it means and what it can do, but they cannot reproduce it nearly as easily as the Western nations can.

    cheers

    horseback
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  8. #18
    ploughman's Avatar Senior Member
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    I wondered why it looked like a fibre-glass mock up of a stealthy drone something simply doesn't ring true with this for me and I tend to afford the Iranians rather more respect than perhaps they deserve. I'd say this is a propaganda exercise, they've been waiting for the loss of one of these drones in order to play out this charade and their intelligence said one'd gone down so they played their card.

    Nevertheless, the 'Beast of Kandahar' has been operating out of Afghanistan since 2007 and why anyone would need to fly a stealthy drone there unless one was more interested in one's neighbours (both of which have nuclear programs and one of which formerly contained OBL) Allah only knows. So perhaps it's true?
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  9. #19
    VW-IceFire's Avatar Senior Member
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    Originally posted by ploughman:
    I wondered why it looked like a fibre-glass mock up of a stealthy drone something simply doesn't ring true with this for me and I tend to afford the Iranians rather more respect than perhaps they deserve. I'd say this is a propaganda exercise, they've been waiting for the loss of one of these drones in order to play out this charade and their intelligence said one'd gone down so they played their card.

    Nevertheless, the 'Beast of Kandahar' has been operating out of Afghanistan since 2007 and why anyone would need to fly a stealthy drone there unless one was more interested in one's neighbours (both of which have nuclear programs and one of which formerly contained OBL) Allah only knows. So perhaps it's true?
    It sounds like the experts are divided on if this is the real drone or if it is a mockup. I will say one thing... having been to the USAF museum in Dayton Ohio and having seen the B-2 Spirit that they have/had up close... I can say that a top level stealth aircraft looks almost fake up close.

    After looking at hundreds of WWII aircraft for a morning and several dozen Vietnam era aircraft for the afternoon... a B-2 looks... weird. There are no rivet lines and no easy way to see how it was put together which is quite unlike the older aircraft. These images do look a bit like that did.

    It could still be a fibreglass replica... but it'd probably look about the same.
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  10. #20
    K_Freddie's Avatar Senior Member
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    One has to ask...
    Why after all these years of drone existence, would Iran say they have one when they could have claimed this yonks ago ??

    Purely a publicity stunt.. Nah nah I doubt it..
    Hacking the USA defense net... A big possibility.. and I'd say well done to them.. and I'd also say stupid USA.. You deserve it for being so slack.

    Maybe it's not the USA being so slack, but Iran being so much smarter... after all the USA 'imports most of it's brainpower'

    This would also be another wake-up call to the USA citizens... Hello there's a real world out there.. Somewhere!!
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