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TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran has drones which have been built under a secret military program, a senior Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander revealed on Monday, adding that the Iranian version of the RQ-170 drone will fly this year to carry out bombing and reconnaissance missions.
"In addition to the unveiled products, we also have other drones about which nothing has been said," IRGC Aerospace Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh told FNA on Monday, and added, "It is natural that countries don’t speak about all of their capabilities."
Asked about the Iranian version of the RQ-170 drone which has been manufactured through the reverse engineering of the US drone which was tracked and hunted down in Iran late in 2011 and has been equipped by the IRGC with bombing capability, he said, "The prototype model of this drone (which is 60% smaller that the original drone in size) flew about three months ago and God willing, the final model of the plane will fly this year."
He said that the Americans themselves had also thought of providing the drone with bombing capability and foreseen some special parts for mounting bombs on the aircraft. Yet, they used it for reconnaissance and spying operations, he said.
"But we will use it for both missions," continued the General.
Hajizadeh referred to the downing of the US RQ-170 drone in 2011, and said more important than using its technology has been the "disclosure of the Americans' most advanced capabilities and weak points to us".
In December, Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Salami announced that the Iranian version of the US drone, RQ-170, would be unveiled to the public soon.
Farsnews
"In addition to the unveiled products, we also have other drones about which nothing has been said," IRGC Aerospace Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh told FNA on Monday, and added, "It is natural that countries don’t speak about all of their capabilities."
Asked about the Iranian version of the RQ-170 drone which has been manufactured through the reverse engineering of the US drone which was tracked and hunted down in Iran late in 2011 and has been equipped by the IRGC with bombing capability, he said, "The prototype model of this drone (which is 60% smaller that the original drone in size) flew about three months ago and God willing, the final model of the plane will fly this year."
He said that the Americans themselves had also thought of providing the drone with bombing capability and foreseen some special parts for mounting bombs on the aircraft. Yet, they used it for reconnaissance and spying operations, he said.
"But we will use it for both missions," continued the General.
Hajizadeh referred to the downing of the US RQ-170 drone in 2011, and said more important than using its technology has been the "disclosure of the Americans' most advanced capabilities and weak points to us".
In December, Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Salami announced that the Iranian version of the US drone, RQ-170, would be unveiled to the public soon.
Farsnews
