MOSCOW, May 12 (RIA Novosti) – Tehran has unveiled a copy of the US Lockheed Martin Sentinel RQ-170 drone at a military aerospace exhibition.
“Our engineers succeeded in breaking the drone’s secrets and copying them. It will soon take a test flight,” an Iranian officer told Iranian TV.
“This drone is very important for reconnaissance missions,” Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei said about the drone.
The aircraft is a copy of a US drone that Iran downed in 2011 near the city of Kashmar. According to Iranian officials, the copy is equipped with advanced data collection, video and radar systems.
The original drone is hard to detect, only becoming visible from a distance of around 40 kilometers, as it is covered with a stealth coating.
The drone was downed by Iranian electronic warfare systems, which convinced it to land on Iranian territory instead of its designated home military base.
