Iran Shows Off Its Copy of a US Drone

Video allegedly reveals replica in flight
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 12, 2014 9:54 AM CST
Iran Shows Off Its Copy of a US Drone
This photo released on Dec. 8, 2011, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards claims to show the US RQ-170 Sentinel drone.   (AP Photo/Sepahnews)

Back in 2011, Iran captured a US stealth drone that had moved into its airspace from Afghanistan. The country says it's made a copy of the drone, and new footage allegedly shows it in flight for the first time, the AP reports. The video, shown on state TV, reveals a black aircraft soaring over a mountainous area. Perhaps unsurprisingly, an Iranian general says the country's version of the RQ-170 Sentinel is even better than the American one. Its "weight has remarkably become less, it consumes less fuel, its speed has been increased, and the duration that it can fly has improved a lot because of its enhanced body," the head of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace division notes.

Unlike the US version, the Iranian one contains no metal, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh says: "It helps to reduce its detectability by radars." Tehran plans to make several of the drones this year, which in Iran ends March 20; next year, it aims to mass-produce them, the general says. The flight occurred a few days ago, per Iran's PressTV, which has the clip, the Jerusalem Post reports. "The mini-stroke Americans suffered will be complete by watching this footage," Hajizadeh notes. (More Iran stories.)

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