Iran UAVs to outmaneuver US drones

Iran will carry out reverse engineering on the captured RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft at the next step, member of the Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Parviz Sorouri said on Sunday.

Iranian engineers will prove that they have the essential capabilities to mass-produce aircraft of higher quality than US drones in the near future, IRIB quoted the legislator as saying in an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language news channel Al-Alam.

On December 4, the Iranian military’s electronic warfare units brought down the US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft with minimal damage. The spy drone was flying over the eastern city of Kashmar, some 225km (140 miles) from the Afghan border.

The aircraft, designed and developed by the American company Lockheed Martin, had crossed into Iran’s airspace over the border with neighboring Afghanistan.

Sorouri added that Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has made great progress in countering electronic warfare and emphasized that except the US, no country has obtained such a capacity yet.

He stated that Iran succeeded in identifying and disrupting the US electronic management of the flying object and managed to down it with little damage.

The legislator noted that the decryption data on the downed US spy drone is close to the final stage, saying Iran will soon acquire confidential information which will be used as evidence in taking action against the United States.

On December 6, two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the drone had been part of a CIA reconnaissance mission, involving the United States intelligence community stationed in Afghanistan.

Head of the Iranian Judiciary High Council for Human Rights Mohammad Javad Larijani said on Sunday that the violation of Iran’s airspace by the American spy drone is a blatant example of rights violation and legal action will be taken against the US.

He added that Tehran would be pursing this clear instance of the violation of its sovereignty.