RQ-170 crash might put US sensor technology at risk
- By Defense Systems Staff
- Dec 06, 2011
U.S. officials have confirmed that an RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle on a secret mission for the CIA did crash in Iran on Dec. 1, reports MSNBC.
CIA operators were flying the stealth UAV when it went off course and crashed in a remote mountainous area of Iran after it ran out of fuel, the officials said.
A major concern for the U.S. government is that the Iranians might be able salvage highly sensitive technology, such as cameras or sensors, from the RQ-170, or even stealth features, and try to copy it for their own systems.