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The drones have a way to blow themselves up, and the US also knew where it crashed and considered bombing it in place. Because it was on Iranian soil the decisi

The drones have a way to blow themselves up, and the US also knew where it crashed and considered bombing it in place. Because it was on Iranian soil the decision was made to not do this for diplomatic reasons.

politician 15y ago
It didn't crash, it landed. It decided to land, in Iran. It could have nosedived if the self-destruct system was non-responsive, but it landed instead. Valuable stealth technology just automatically landed in Iran, think about that. Iran, where multiple missile bases have just been randomly blowing up recently. Something ain't right.
- ibisum 15y ago
  You don't know that "it" decided to land. This is an assumption. Beware assumptions in this matter of international importance!
huhtenberg 15y ago
Source?
- krschultz 15y ago
  http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/12/downed_cia_drone_was_it_rigged_to_self_destruct_.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20...
dsl 15y ago
Drones have no self-destruct mechanism. In the case of an unrecoverable malfunction we let them crash or shoot them down ourselves. I highly suspect the drone was either operating inside Iran, or close enough to its borders that the US didn't want to risk sending an F-16 after it.
- krschultz 15y ago
  Yes they do http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/12/downed_cia_drone_was_it_rigged_to_self_destruct_.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20... The US has the means to destroy it if they choose to - the Iranians can't stop a cruise missile or a stealth bomber. It was a political calculation NOT to destroy it.
  - dsl 15y ago
    The link you cite refers to first gen drones and then dives quickly into "probably" territory. It goes on to state the reason they don't bother with on-board self destruct anymore... if you had any working comms with which to trigger it, you'd just use that to regain control. They absolutely have the means. Good friends of mine ran intercept and recovery operations in Afganistan and Iraq. Further I agree completely that it was a political calculation. The risk of flying a fighter (it would be near impossible to retask a bomber or cruise missle into the role) and a recovery team into Iran's borders was way higher than the risk of them recovering anything sensitive.

politician 15y ago

It didn't crash, it landed. It decided to land, in Iran. It could have nosedived if the self-destruct system was non-responsive, but it landed instead. Valuable stealth technology just automatically landed in Iran, think about that. Iran, where multiple missile bases have just been randomly blowing up recently. Something ain't right.

ibisum 15y ago
You don't know that "it" decided to land. This is an assumption. Beware assumptions in this matter of international importance!

huhtenberg 15y ago

Source?

krschultz 15y ago
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/12/downed_cia_drone_was_it_rigged_to_self_destruct_.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20...

dsl 15y ago

Drones have no self-destruct mechanism. In the case of an unrecoverable malfunction we let them crash or shoot them down ourselves. I highly suspect the drone was either operating inside Iran, or close enough to its borders that the US didn't want to risk sending an F-16 after it.

krschultz 15y ago
Yes they do http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/12/downed_cia_drone_was_it_rigged_to_self_destruct_.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20... The US has the means to destroy it if they choose to - the Iranians can't stop a cruise missile or a stealth bomber. It was a political calculation NOT to destroy it.
- dsl 15y ago
  The link you cite refers to first gen drones and then dives quickly into "probably" territory. It goes on to state the reason they don't bother with on-board self destruct anymore... if you had any working comms with which to trigger it, you'd just use that to regain control. They absolutely have the means. Good friends of mine ran intercept and recovery operations in Afganistan and Iraq. Further I agree completely that it was a political calculation. The risk of flying a fighter (it would be near impossible to retask a bomber or cruise missle into the role) and a recovery team into Iran's borders was way higher than the risk of them recovering anything sensitive.