nuclear-news

USA crashed drone was spying on Iran’s nuclear sites

Crashed drone was looking at Iran nuclear sites CNN By Tim Lister, with reporting by Kathleen Johnston and Pam Benson, 15 Dec 11 The Sentinel drone that crashed in Iran last week was on a surveillance mission of suspected nuclear sites in the country, U.S. military officials tell CNN.

Previously, U.S. and NATO officials had said the drone was on a mission to patrol the Afghan-Iran border and had veered off course.

The officials say the Afghan government was unaware of the use of its
territory to fly surveillance drones over Iran, and that the CIA had
not informed the Defense Department of the drone’s mission when
reports first emerged that it had crashed.  One official told CNN that
the U.S. military “did not have a good understanding of what was going
on because it was a CIA mission.”

In Kabul Wednesday U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta refused to
comment directly on the specifics of the drone’s mission but did not
deny that it had been spying on Iran and said the drone program
carried out “important intelligence operations which we will continue
to pursue.”

The RQ-170 Sentinel is one of the United States’ most sophisticated
drones and flies at up to 50,000 feet.  It is designed to evade
sophisticated air defenses.  One former intelligence official told CNN
that it’s “impossible to see” and discounted Iranian claims that it
had been brought down by some form of electronic counter-measures.

“It simply fell into their laps,” he said – after satellite
communication was lost.

An Iranian engineer working on the captured drone claimed to the
Christian Science Monitor that Iran was able to overtake the drone
control system and land it.  The engineer described to reporter Scott
Peterson how Iran was able to exploit a vulnerability in the drone
system…….The area is known for its uranium mines. which Iran is
under no obligation to subject to international inspection.  The main
mine is at Saghand in Yazd province, to the south-west of the Tabas
desert.  According to ISIS, it supplies uranium ore concentrate to a
facility at Ardakan.  Other mines in Iran’s eastern provinces are
being developed, according to the IAEA…..
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/15/crashed-drone-was-looking-at-iran-nuclear-sites/

December 16, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA