Iran to use US drone technology: Analyst

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Iran to use US drone technology: Analyst

Iran has the ability to decode the captured US spy drone’s information and to study and implement its technology in the country’s future projects, an analyst tells Press TV.

“It’s quite clear that the computer codes of the United States armed forces have been compromised, which is why Iran is able to hack into them and bring them down in one piece and then study them for further developments,” columnist and political commentator Nader Mokhtari told Press TV Tuesday.

IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi announced on Tuesday that a US spy drone had been captured by Iranian forces over the Persian Gulf upon its violation of the Iranian airspace.

Mokhtari hailed Iran’s ability to capture the drone, saying, “This is a major, major loss for the US armed forces and US technological advancement in the field.”

The ScanEagle drone, which has a 10ft (3m) wingspan, is a long-endurance aircraft built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, and uses the world’s smallest aperture radar, NanoSAR.

“If that [NanoSAR] is, which most definitely it is, onboard this UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle], then it makes this catch very, very important because small aperture radars are a specialty of the US. The technology’s highly advanced and it will come in handy for Iran, for sure, for all sorts of new things,” Mokhtari added.

Earlier in December 2011, the Iranian military also grounded a US RQ-170 spy aircraft while it was flying over the Iranian city of Kashmar, some 140 miles (225 km) from the Afghan border.

The US RQ-170 spy drone was downed with minimal damage by the Iranian Army's electronic warfare unit. The drone was one of America's most advanced spy aircraft.

Mokhtari also slammed Washington for its repeated “illegal” violation of Iranian airspace, saying it’s against international law to spy on other countries using drones.

PressTV - Iran to use US drone technology: Analyst