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Crash of American RQ-170 Sentinel inside Iran
U.S. UAV U.S. UAV on display on Iranian television
Date 4 December 2011 Location near Kashmar, Iran Result Seizure of the RQ-170 by Iranian Armed Forces
Belligerents
Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran	U.S. Air Force CIA

On 4 December 2011, an American Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was captured by Iranian forces near the city of Kashmar in northeastern Iran. The Iranian government claims that the UAV was shot down or hacked by its electronic warfare unit. The US government claim that the UAV malfunctioned and crashed.

U.S. officials anonymously admitted that the drone was on a CIA spying mission over Iran when it was captured.

Capture of the drone

The government of Iran claims that the aircraft was downed by Iranian anti-aircraft fire and/or by the Iranian Army's electronic warfare unit stationed near Kashmar and "brought down with minimum damage" They said the aircraft was detected in Iranian airspace some 225 kilometers (140 mi) from the border with Afghanistan. The government of the United States claims that its forces in Afghanistan had lost control of a UAV on 4 December 2011 and that there is a possibility that this is the vehicle that crashed near Kashmar. According to unnamed U.S. officials, a U.S. UAV operated by the Central Intelligence Agency was flying on the Afghan side of the Afghanistan-Iran border when its operators lost control of the vehicle. There have been reports that "foreign officials and American experts who have been briefed on the effort" state that the crashed UAV was taking part in routine surveillance of Iranian nuclear facilities inside Iranian airspace.

Iran claims that its forces had downed an RQ-170 that violated Iranian airspace along its eastern border and captured the lightly damaged wreckage of the UAV, claiming that they had succeeded in overriding its controls. The Iranian government released footage of the captured RQ-170 on 8 December. The drone appeared to be largely intact, except for minor visible damage on its left wing. Dan Goure, an analyst at the Lexington Institute, stated the largely intact airframe ruled out the possibility of an engine or navigational malfunction: "Either this was a cyber/electronic warfare attack system that brought the system down or it was a glitch in the command-and-control system."

Iran announced that it intends to carry out reverse engineering on the captured RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft, which is similar in design to B-2 stealth bomber.

The Department of Defense released a statement acknowledging that it had lost control of a UAV during the previous week, claiming that it was "flying a mission over western Afghanistan" when control was lost. The statement did not specify the model of the aircraft. The U.S. government also stated that it was still investigating the cause of the loss.

• High Resolution Picture of the UAV High Resolution Picture of the UAV
• File:U.S. RQ-170 on display in Iran 4.jpg
• File:U.S. RQ-170 on display in Iran 5.jpg
• File:U.S. RQ-170 on display in Iran 1.jpg
• File:U.S. RQ-170 on display in Iran 2.jpg
• RQ-170 captured in Iran RQ-170 captured in Iran

US acknowledgement

On 6 December 2011, U.S. officials acknowledged that a drone crashed in or near Iranian airspace and that this belonged to the CIA and not to ISAF as was earlier stated. U.S. officials did not state that the drone shown on Iranian television was actually a real RQ-170 (which has been public knowledge since 2009), although a former U.S. official confirmed that the drone shown on the Iranian state media was a U.S. RQ-170, used for surveillance of Tehran's nuclear facilities.

On 5 December 2011, U.S. military sources confirmed that the remains of an RQ-170 had been captured by Iranian forces. However, media reports indicated that various U.S. officials declined to confirm whether or not the drone in the video released by Iranian state television was authentic. On 8 December 2011, a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Washington Post that the U.S. cannot be certain the drone shown was real because the U.S. does not have access to it, but also stated that "We have no indication that it was brought down by hostile fire." A second senior U.S. military official said that a major question is how the drone could have remained "virtually intact," given the high altitude from which it is said to have crashed. U.S. Navy Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told a news conference on 8 December 2011 that Pentagon analysts were examining the video. Both Kirby and fellow spokesman George Little would not comment further on whether the U.S. military believed the drone was the one missing, both did say that the missing drone had not been recovered. However, later that day, CBS reported that the US officials have confirmed in private, the authenticity of the drone shown by the Iranians.

John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org told CNN that the video images of the aircraft did not look the way he would expect it to look after a crash. Military aviation expert Bill Sweetman told CNN he believed that the drone displayed was real. Sweetman stated that it was most likely that the Iranians did not shoot down the plane (citing the lack of burn marks, holes, or outward damage), or hack into the system. Instead, Sweetman speculated on CNN that a system failure downed the plane, and that the plane could be intact from what is known as a "flat spin" or "falling leaf departure," which would result in damage to the belly of the aircraft but little damage to other components. Sweetman noted a dent along the leading edge of the aircraft, noting that "The question is did that happen in the accident or whether they took them off to move the aircraft."

Complaint to UN Security Council

On 9 December 2011, Iran lodged a formal complaint to the United Nations Security Council over the UAV violating its airspace. Iran's U.N. ambassador stated in the letter that "My government emphasizes that this blatant and unprovoked air violation by the United States government is tantamount to an act of hostility against the Islamic Republic of Iran in clear contravention of international law, in particular, the basic tenets of the United Nations Charter." The New York Times reported that the complaint "appeared to have been made more for its propaganda value than for any Iranian hope of Security Council action" and that it was "highly unlikely that the Council would punish the United States, one of the five permanent members with veto power".

Request for return by the United States

On 12 December 2011, U.S. administration asked Iran to return the captured U.S. drone. The day before, on 11 December 2011, General Salâmi stated that "no nation welcomes other countries' spy drones in its territory, and no one sends back the spying equipment and its information back to the country of origin." On 13 December 2011, Defence Minister of Iran, dismissed the request and said "Instead of apologising to the Iranian nation, it is brazenly asking for the drone back." And the ministry spokesman, Mehmânparast, stated that "it seems he (Obama) has forgotten that Iran’s airspace was violated, spying operations were undertaken, international laws were violated and that Iran’s internal affairs were interfered with. ... Instead of an official apology and admitting to this violation, they are making this request."

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney criticized Obama's decisions on the drone, saying that, after the aircraft went down, the president should have committed an act of war against Iran by ordering an airstrike within Iran: "The right response to that would have been to go in immediately after it had gone down and destroy it. You can do that from the air ... and, in effect, make it impossible for them to benefit from having captured that drone." Instead, "he asked nicely for them to return it, and they aren't going to".

References

1. "Iran reject US request to return captured drone". BBC News. 13 December 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
2. ^ "Iran says captured US drone is their 'property' now". The Daily Telegraph. 13 December 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
3. Iran airs footage of downed US drone. Presstv.ir (9 December 2011). Retrieved on 12 December 2011.
4. "'Iran military landed US spy drone'". Press TV. 9 December 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
5. ^ "US maintains silence on downed drone". Press TV. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
6. "Iran military downs US spy drone". Press TV. 4 December 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
7. Maroney, Sean. "Iranian Video Displays Alleged US Drone". Voice of America. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
8. http://www.rferl.org/content/us_iran_drone_deal/24418300.html
9. ^ "Iran shows film of captured US drone". BBC News. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
10. U.S. officials, analysts differ on whether drone in Iran TV video is real – CNN.com. Edition.cnn.com. (8 December 2011) Retrieved on 12 December 2011.
11. Shane, Scott; Sanger, David E (7 December 2011). "Drone Crash in Iran Reveals Secret U.S. Surveillance Effort". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
12. "Iran Captures a U.S. Stealth Drone Intact". 8 December 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
13. Dave Majumdar (9 December 2011). "Iran's captured RQ-170: How bad is the damage?". Air Force Times.
14. ^ Jaffe, Greg (5 December 2011). "Iran says it downed U.S. stealth drone; Pentagon acknowledges aircraft downing". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
15. "After drone was lost, CIA tried a head fake". The Washington Post. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
16. Rick Gladstone (8 December 2011). "Iran Shows Video It Says Is of U.S. Drone". the New York Times.
17. ^ "U.S. officials, analysts differ on whether drone in Iran TV video is real". CNN. 8 December 2011.
18. U.S. official: Iran does have our drone. CBS News (8 December 2011). Retrieved on 12 December 2011.
19. "General: Iran won't return U.S. drone it claims to have". CNN. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
20. Gladstone, Rick (9 December 2011). "Iran Complains to Security Council About Spy Drone". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
21. "Obama appeals to Iran to give back downed US drone". The New York Times. 9 December 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
22. "General: Iran won't return U.S. drone it claims to have". CNN. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
23. "Obama says U.S. has asked Iran to return drone aircraft". CNN. 13 December 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.

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