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Subject: Iran and RQ-160
YelliChink    12/8/2011 9:08:07 PM
Either Allah really like them, or something seriously fishy happens. It kind of reminded me of the Apache downed during last Iraqi war.
 
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Reactive       12/9/2011 12:21:42 AM
Things go wrong, the US indicated it lost contact so perhaps the software crashed or its uplink failed or was jammed either accidentally or deliberately - there would presumably be automated responses to eventualities such as this, perhaps the FCS manages a slow descent or even just prevents a flat spin becoming a nosedive...
 
Honestly though I would hope/presume there is a limited amount of highly-sensitive tech used in an unmanned surveillance system, the inevitable loss of UAVs over enemy territory must be a risk factor in the design. 
 
The grid structure obscuring oblique radar returns on the inlet is interesting...
 
 
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Slim Pickinz    Anyone else REALLY pissed off about this?   12/9/2011 1:27:31 AM
Iran showed footage today of the seemingly intact Sentinal, though it may have been patched together for the photo op. Apparently they have recovered an almost complete airframe. Decades of UAV design and stealth technology lost to the Chicoms and the Russians....
 
Why wasn't the crash site destroyed by allied aircraft? There are always a/c on station over Afghanistan. They would have known the approximate location of the UAV and probably could have gotten there before any Iranian patrols could reach it by vehicle.
 
Is the risk of a diplomatic incident with Iran now worth fighting technological peers 10-15 years sooner than expected in a major conflict?
 
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Reactive       12/9/2011 4:17:25 AM
Because it probably doesn't give them anything like as much as you suggest, as I said, the major likelihood of this happening over enemy territory will have factored into the design - it uses shaping sure, nothing new there, we know nothing about coatings or other tech utilised...
 
 
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heraldabc    Its an RQ-170 SENTINEL not an RQ-160.   12/9/2011 9:34:56 AM
While the loss is frustrating, the tech is NOT top of the line. It is more like a battlefield surveillance drone than a true stealth strategic recon platform. Don't let it's vague resemblance to a B-2 fool you.
 
H.
 
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JFKY    Modest suggestion for the "Haters"   12/9/2011 9:40:21 AM
If Captain Kirk and Command Montgomery Scott, landed here and gave you the plans for the Warp Drive, would you be able to build one?
 
The fact that the PRC or Russia get to look at the RQ-160 is a loss, but how big of one?  IF it requires coatings or manufacturing tolerances that they can't currently produce, what have they gained?  The Soviets acquired lots of "tech" in the Cold War, but the problem was getting the Soviet economy to produce it.  Yeah, I know it tells them "how" to produce an RQ-160, but it doesn't grant them the ABILITY to produce one.  
 
But it does tell them how to spot one or jam its up-link....that is bad. 
 
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Reactive       12/9/2011 9:59:05 AM
I agree, to put it another way, look at the loss-rates for Predator/Reaper drones, UAVs are only a few generations in from inception, their loss over enemy territory is not just possible but absolutely inevitable - it's probably a bit of a blow that this thing evidently didn't sustain much damage when it came down but it doesn't look like a contemporary to the F-35 or F-22 in terms of sawtooth features or coatings.
 
Hopefully the software will be encrypted and impossible to decompile, quite aside from the physical technology software that can operate a flying wing UAV has to be incredibly valuable...
 
R
 
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Reactive       12/9/2011 10:16:09 AM
To JFKY,  you can do a lot of ultrasound and microscopy (to find out what sort of manufacturing process was used) and various forms of spectroscopy (to find the composition of exotic materials and composites). That may not tell you by a long shot how to reproduce said artefact but it does tell you where to start focusing resources - knowing that should you eventually replicate that technology you are on the right road to producing a operationally proven design. For the latest technology that might be a 10 or 20 year process but equally for relatively lo-fi tech that might be achievable far sooner, given Chinese propensities to develop their Russian AC clones and their extensive espionage activities one can only presume they'll be delighted to have full access.
 
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JFKY    Reactive   12/9/2011 10:27:22 AM
I don't dispute it's an intell windfall, but it's not quite the same as capturing a reasonably intact A6M, either....Again if you had a copy of the Warp Drive, but it requires Dylithium Crystals and Transparent Aluminum, true you know what path to take towards Warp Drive, but without the Dylithium or Transparent Aluminum, you aren't going to have one anytime soon.  
 
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heraldabc       12/9/2011 11:09:39 AM


 

Hopefully the software will be encrypted and impossible to decompile, quite aside from the physical technology software that can operate a flying wing UAV has to be incredibly valuable...

 

R

The PRC bandits already have that algorithm. That is why I wasn't so concerned about it in this case.
 
H. 
 
 
 
 
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Skylark    The answer? Politics   12/9/2011 3:03:42 PM
 Slim Pickinz wrote:
 
Why wasn't the crash site destroyed by allied aircraft?
 
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From what I have been able to glean from the information out there, plans to knock the drone down using fighter aircraft, and/or recover the  wreckage with a special forces team was sent to the President, but was rejected as too risky and provocative since the drone was in Iranian airspace, and landed in their territory.  You can draw your own conclusions as to the accuracy of that report, the wisdom of the decision or the reasons behind it.
 
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