Breaking: Iran news agency releases first images of captured U.S. stealthy drone

December 8, 2011 Captured Stealth Drone, Drones, Iran, Military Aviation
David Cenciotti

Here they are.

The first images released by an Iran news agency of what should be the U.S. RQ-170 drone crash landed in Iran on Sunday. Noteworthy, the drone wears a sort of desert color scheme much different from the dark grey one applied to the example photographed years ago at Kandahar airbase. According to sources  the recovery team couldn’t find it to blow it up before it went into Iranian hands.

A video is available here (you’ll find some screenshots below, showing Iranian soldiers inspecting the almost intact robot).

Update: for those asking if it is a fake. No, I think it’s real. If it was fake they would do it in dark grey (as in all available pics to date).

About David Cenciotti
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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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6 Comments

  5. That “special desert camo” is not needed. These things fly at altitudes that would make camo to blend in with terrain useless. If anything it would retain the normal haze grey used by fighters to deter observation from the ground and other aircraft. I think its a fake.

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