Iran military downs US RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone

sublight said:
I'm a bit surprised it has a hard drive in it (if they aren't making that up). I figured it would have a load of volatile RAM in it and send all the acquisitions up a satcom pipe from the RAM once it got somewhere safe for RF emissions.
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It has the equivalent of a USB stick in it, which a Portable Maintenance Aid plugs into.
 
Possible RQ-170 (or related project) sighted at LM Skunk Works Palmdale, CA:

http://osgeoint.blogspot.it/2012/06/us-lm-skunk-works-unknown-uav.html

OSGEOINT+%2804DEC11%29+Skunk+Works+UAV.jpg
 
Firebee said:
Possible RQ-170 (or related project) sighted at LM Skunk Works Palmdale, CA
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Shape is not compatible with the RQ-170 Sentinel, but it could be the P-175 Polecat or a related design.
 

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You are right. The depression in the center rear resembles the Polecat. The RQ-170 exhaust nozzle doesn't match that, now that I look it over.
 
am I dreaming, or article on this mystery something appeared yesterday at DEW Line and disappeared in the morning? hmmm
 
Post is still online, here:

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2012/06/lockheeds-new-mystery-drone.html
 
Too small for P-175 and the sweep is wrong for RQ-170. The F-16 it's sitting next to appears to be a pole model for the DSI inlet plus CFTs. High res photos here:
http://theronmoon.smugmug.com/Static-Display-and-Flying/Lockheed/
 
Old news, it's been there in imagery since July of 2011.
 
A location known for making airplanes has an airplane-like object in open, unsecured storage? *Under a cover*? Obviously, a secret drone :p



Stuka said:
Too small for P-175 and the sweep is wrong for RQ-170. The F-16 it's sitting next to appears to be a pole model for the DSI inlet plus CFTs. High res photos here:
http://theronmoon.smugmug.com/Static-Display-and-Flying/Lockheed/
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The F-16 was a static test article used for several programs. It had mounting points for the conformal fuel tanks, was fitted with the DSI inlet, and was used to test the LOAN nozzle. Another similar test article was in storage at Ft. Worth, where there is now something more interesting not far from the A-12 mockup.
 
RQ-170 breaks cover in the US (Source: Combat Aircraft Monthly)

Two exclusive new images of the RQ-170, seen here flying pattern work at Creech AFB, Nevada, in July. The photograps were taken from a public road, indicating a relaxed approach to the type's previously secretive activities.

New images of the US Air Force's secretive RQ-170 unmanned aerial vehicle have been taken at Creech. The images, taken in July, clearly show the aircraft from a number of angles, including the first time the underside has been captured. The images were taken from a public road during normal operations at the base and on close inspection reveal a serial ‘927’ on the nose wheel bay door. It is thought that this might signal a more relaxed approach to the RQ-170 and its operations, as until now they have never been seen in public and have mainly operated in secret from their home base at Tonopad, on the Nellis range complex.

According to rumours cirulated on Chinese defence forums, a group of Chinese experts may have recently visited Iran to inspect and even collect elements of the RQ-170 that came down in Iran last year. It is thought that some components may be exploited and reverse-engineered by Chinese scientists, who are likely to have been given unlimited access to the drone, which was embarrassingly paraded on Iranian state television in December last year.
 

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http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,17751.0.html

....An April 2001 collision between a U.S. Navy EP-3E signals intelligence aircraft and a Chinese fighter revived interest in a high-altitude, long-endurance UAV. Various designs were considered, including a V-tailed Lockheed Martin concept called Distant Star (or Penetrating High Altitude Endurance), but great things were expected (at the time) from high-resolution, space-based radar. Consequently, expectations were scaled back, and in late 2001 or early 2002 Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract for a simpler, medium-altitude tactical stealth UAV, which became the RQ-170 Sentinel.....


....Also in 2006, the Quadrennial Defense Review terminated J-UCAS. It was openly reported at the time that while the Navy continued with its carrier-based demonstrator (the Northrop Grumman X-47B), Air Force J-UCAS money was going to a classified program. At the time, the RQ-170 was just starting flight tests, and two batches—totaling fewer than 20 aircraft—were ordered. It would serve as a stopgap until the bigger aircraft was ready.....
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Grey Havoc said:
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,17751.0.html

....An April 2001 collision between a U.S. Navy EP-3E signals intelligence aircraft and a Chinese fighter revived interest in a high-altitude, long-endurance UAV. Various designs were considered, including a V-tailed Lockheed Martin concept called Distant Star (or Penetrating High Altitude Endurance), but great things were expected (at the time) from high-resolution, space-based radar. Consequently, expectations were scaled back, and in late 2001 or early 2002 Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract for a simpler, medium-altitude tactical stealth UAV, which became the RQ-170 Sentinel.....


....Also in 2006, the Quadrennial Defense Review terminated J-UCAS. It was openly reported at the time that while the Navy continued with its carrier-based demonstrator (the Northrop Grumman X-47B), Air Force J-UCAS money was going to a classified program. At the time, the RQ-170 was just starting flight tests, and two batches—totaling fewer than 20 aircraft—were ordered. It would serve as a stopgap until the bigger aircraft was ready.....
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Distant Star and PHAE were two very different programs with very different missions (Distant Star was not designed to penetrate and persist).
The Air Force J-UCAS money is well accounted for, and did not go to a classified program.
 
Some of this footage seems to be fabricated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnHdNcseRC8

1:33 There is an explosion, the RQ-170 doesn't carry weapons. Also, the blacking out of the text kind of gives it away.
 
godman said:
Some of this footage seems to be fabricated.

1:33 There is an explosion, the RQ-170 doesn't carry weapons. Also, the blacking out of the text kind of gives it away.
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I don't speak Farsi, so I don't really know what they're saying with each piece of video. Also, the fact that the RQ-170 doesn't carry weapons doesn't mean it can't watch weapons being delivered. I find the landing footage particularly interesting. How many missions worth of data were stored on the thing? One would have expected it to be downloaded/deleted after each flight (a fairly basic precaution).
 
godman said:
Some of this footage seems to be fabricated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnHdNcseRC8

1:33 There is an explosion, the RQ-170 doesn't carry weapons. Also, the blacking out of the text kind of gives it away.
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For sure the only genuine part is the landing and taxi sequence. At the very end you see a quick glimpse of someone waving it in to the shelter, I'm loving it!
 
Mr London 24/7 said:
The 'Beast of Palmdale' moves South a bit...
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You can see this from public areas. I believe it is a jig for constructing P-175 or the X-47B.
 
I assume it's a Polecat (or some relation). X-47 jigs are out back at Northrop:
 

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Mr London 24/7 said:
I assume it's a Polecat (or some relation). X-47 jigs are out back at Northrop:
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LM did more than a little on X-47.
However, if you look at photos of P-175 under construction..... ;)
 
Screengrabs from Recovery op shown on Iranian TV. Attached '02' pic as interested in view of rear deck markings (rest are a bit boring...):


http://gallery.military.ir/albums/userpics/10248/RQ-170_Transport_Operation_01.JPG
http://gallery.military.ir/albums/userpics/10248/RQ-170_Transport_Operation_02.JPG
http://gallery.military.ir/albums/userpics/10248/RQ-170_Transport_Operation_03.JPG
http://gallery.military.ir/albums/userpics/10248/RQ-170_Transport_Operation_04.JPG
http://gallery.military.ir/albums/userpics/10248/RQ-170_Transport_Operation_05.JPG
http://gallery.military.ir/albums/userpics/10248/RQ-170_Transport_Operation_06.JPG
 

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Mr London 24/7 said:
Screengrabs from Recovery op shown on Iranian TV. Attached '02' pic as interested in view of rear deck markings (rest are a bit boring...):
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Didn't they say they 'captured' it by taking control of the system and commanding it to land at one of their airfields? Looks a lot more like a fuel exhaustion crash in the desert than anything like that.
 
Mr London 24/7 said:
Screengrabs from Recovery op shown on Iranian TV. Attached '02' pic as interested in view of rear deck markings (rest are a bit boring...):
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Access to all of these is described as "Forbidden" to me.

Please save the pics and attach them to your post for those who have the same problem (all also for them to stay on even when the linked site is gone...). Thanks.
 
I'm curious, why don't they use some kind of astro navigational backup and barometric altimeter to verify the GPS from time to time?
 
sublight is back said:
I'm curious, why don't they use some kind of astro navigational backup and barometric altimeter to verify the GPS from time to time?
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Both cost and payload considerations, apparently.
 
Grey Havoc said:
sublight is back said:
I'm curious, why don't they use some kind of astro navigational backup and barometric altimeter to verify the GPS from time to time?
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Both cost and payload considerations, apparently.
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I cant comment on the barometric altimeter, but the CCD/CMOS sensor needed for astro nav would be dime sized and microscopically priced. The code would run in the navigational software and not on the CCD/CMOS unit. I'm willing to bet future platforms will have this as standard.
 

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