Dude! Where's my drone?

[tomneal]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/de ... sfeed=true

Rumor has it that he is sending a delegation headed by Jimmy Carter and Jessie Jackson to Iran to ask them in person.


Link corrected.

[mamabearCali]

If it was not sent there on purpose as some sort of brilliant plan to infect Iran's infrastructure with a nasty computer virus, then why in the name of all that is decent in this world did we not hit a self-destruct button. Or alternatively send in a team of commandos from Afghanistan and destroy the thing. I swear we have the fox guarding the chicken house.

[The Annoyed Man]

????

What does the linked article have to do with the missing drone?

[gigag04]

????

What does the linked article have to do with the missing drone?

Yeah?

[E.Marquez]

If it was not sent there on purpose as some sort of brilliant plan to infect Iran's infrastructure with a nasty computer virus, then why in the name of all that is decent in this world did we not hit a self-destruct button. Or alternatively send in a team of commandos from Afghanistan and destroy the thing. I swear we have the fox guarding the chicken house.

Why bother? Tell us, what do you believe they have gained in knowledge?
Without spares, crews, control stations and the ability to use the information that a UAV can provide what use is it do you think?
Once you research the answers to those questions, the currency of that particular UAV...

Ask yourself why should a single US or CF life be risked to recover a piece of equipment? You, the tax payers will kindly buy us another thank you very much.

If you come to a conclusion different then the current Combatant Commander in country, let me know.. I’ll walk up stairs and tell him you said so..

[speedsix]

...when you use cut and paste...and THINK you've picked up new material but didn't Control C firmly enough, then when you Control V, you drop the last material you cut...I do that to myself all the time and bet that's what happened here...
...this drone situation should have been solved by whistlepop...first they hears the whistle...then they hears the pop...and the drone's destroyed...should we expect decisive action from this administration???

[mamabearCali]

If it was not sent there on purpose as some sort of brilliant plan to infect Iran's infrastructure with a nasty computer virus, then why in the name of all that is decent in this world did we not hit a self-destruct button. Or alternatively send in a team of commandos from Afghanistan and destroy the thing. I swear we have the fox guarding the chicken house.

Why bother? Tell us, what do you believe they have gained in knowledge?
Without spares, crews, control stations and the ability to use the information that a UAV can provide what use is it do you think?
Once you research the answers to those questions, the currency of that particular UAV...

Ask yourself why should a single US or CF life be risked to recover a piece of equipment? You, the tax payers will kindly buy us another thank you very much.

If you come to a conclusion different then the current Combatant Commander in country, let me know.. I’ll walk up stairs and tell him you said so..

Pretty snarky reply there, but I will answer at least a few of your questions.

First off if the thing is so expendable, as you seem to claim. Why did our president bother to ask for it back? We would have saved alot of face in the world's eyes if we had sloughed it off. If he had said--"ooops our bad, you got our UAV we use for looking at coastal erosion. Thats ok--consider this an early Christmas present." That would have at least called into question the value of what Iran has. Instead the whole world knows that Iran got a real nice UAV because the Americans condescended to ask for it back.

If the thing is important and expensive as our presidents request seems to indicate. Then I have the following reply as to why should we either A. destroy it or B. recover it using American resources.

#1 We just gave Iran some real nice technology and by proxy anyone else that happens to like Iran and dislike us--Venezula, Cuba--etc etc That really should be enough in and of itself to call for the destruction of the drone. #2 I have no idea what information is on there (obviously) but even if it is nothing more than shots of the desert now the Iranians, and soon others, know what our drone capabilities are at the moment.

Now lets say Iran sells this tech and information to unfriendlies--how many American lives are going to be put at risk then? Millions I daresay. This drone was unarmed. The one Venezula builds might not be.

If you are headed upstairs you can tell our president something that my dad used to tell me. "Better to keep your silence and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." That goes doubly in international intrigue.

[E.Marquez]

It was tongue in cheek, not snarky, and I said combatant commander, not president.. .. A simple google search will give you ample information to help you understand the difference if you’re going to be snarky and wrong about it

Pretty snarky reply there, but I will answer at least a few of your questions.

First off if the thing is so expendable, as you seem to claim. Why did our president bother to ask for it back? We would have saved alot of face in the world's eyes if we had sloughed it off. If he had said--"ooops our bad, you got our UAV we use for looking at coastal erosion. Thats ok--consider this an early Christmas present." That would have at least called into question the value of what Iran has. Instead the whole world knows that Iran got a real nice UAV because the Americans condescended to ask for it back.

If the thing is important and expensive as our presidents request seems to indicate. Then I have the following reply as to why should we either A. destroy it or B. recover it using American resources.

#1 We just gave Iran some real nice technology and by proxy anyone else that happens to like Iran and dislike us--Venezula, Cuba--etc etc That really should be enough in and of itself to call for the destruction of the drone. #2 I have no idea what information is on there (obviously) but even if it is nothing more than shots of the desert now the Iranians, and soon others, know what our drone capabilities are at the moment.

Now lets say Iran sells this tech and information to unfriendlies--how many American lives are going to be put at risk then? Millions I daresay. This drone was unarmed. The one Venezula builds might not be.

If you are headed upstairs you can tell our president something that my dad used to tell me. "Better to keep your silence and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." That goes doubly in international intrigue.

It was tongue in cheek, not snarky, and I said combatant commander, not president.. .. A simple google search will give you ample information to help you understand the difference if you’re going to be snarky and wrong about it

Again, still, do a little bit of research, on the UAV itself and the AF response when it went missing and then located in Iran.. ..I don't quote classified stuff to Texas Internet forums,, what I'm saying is all out there for you to read..

But I'll leave it to you all to discuss, as apparently Im being to snarky for you all..

[mamabearCali]

I am not going on a wild goose hunt all over the internet trying to determine what is the correct information about this drone, or even harder trying to track down the military's response. I used to live close to a base--it does not matter if you saw a huge fireball explode in the air you are never going to "find out" the military's response to anything unless they really want you to.

Setting all that aside, commenting on the broad situation at hand (Iran has something valuable of ours and is taunting us with it) and our president's stupid comments does not require an in depth knowledge of the inner workings of the drone or the nuances of the air force. If you know better and they have the equivalent of a 1998 Camry when we are running 2011 Lamborghini's these days all the better for us. Still does not excuse our president for opening his mouth and our country to further disgrace by saying "Pretty please with sugar on top give us back our drone." My comment about the fox and the hen-house--was not aimed at the military-- heaven knows you do the best anyone could do. But rather at the politicians at the top, who instead of being smart say the first thing that comes to their mind in the area of international intrigue and make a ticklish situation far far worse.

[VMI77]

I am not going on a wild goose hunt all over the internet trying to determine what is the correct information about this drone, or even harder trying to track down the military's response. I used to live close to a base--it does not matter if you saw a huge fireball explode in the air you are never going to "find out" the military's response to anything unless they really want you to.

Setting all that aside, commenting on the broad situation at hand (Iran has something valuable of ours and is taunting us with it) and our president's stupid comments does not require an in depth knowledge of the inner workings of the drone or the nuances of the air force. If you know better and they have the equivalent of a 1998 Camry when we are running 2011 Lamborghini's these days all the better for us. Still does not excuse our president for opening his mouth and our country to further disgrace by saying "Pretty please with sugar on top give us back our drone." My comment about the fox and the hen-house--was not aimed at the military-- heaven knows you do the best anyone could do. But rather at the politicians at the top, who instead of being smart say the first thing that comes to their mind in the area of international intrigue and make a ticklish situation far far worse.

So, if the Chinese fly a drone over the US, and we get our hands on it, we should give it back, right? And if we don't, you're good with the Chinese blowing it up or sending in commandos to take it back?

[Lambda Force]

So, if the Chinese fly a drone over the US, and we get our hands on it, we should give it back, right? And if we don't, you're good with the Chinese blowing it up or sending in commandos to take it back?

I say we give back the drone in the whitehouse.

[JP171]

that drone is a piece of junk, its an aerial recon drone that has very limited capability, the Iranians can't get crap from the HD simply because they do not have access to the disks that have the encryption key. and we all know that the current sitting president is an idiot of epic proportion. Iran has gotten ahold of a see I told you so and is going to use it for all its worth, the main problem it isn't worth much and would have been worth alot less if buttmama had kept his big fat cigarette smokin story tellin mouth shut but NOOOOOOOO he couldn't do what his commanders in the field told him, he had to go and think he knew it all, again

[VMI77]

So, if the Chinese fly a drone over the US, and we get our hands on it, we should give it back, right? And if we don't, you're good with the Chinese blowing it up or sending in commandos to take it back?

I say we give back the drone in the whitehouse.

I agree. Now if we only could, but who'd want it?

[threoh8]

Why bother? Tell us, what do you believe they have gained in knowledge? :

Having the hardware available for long-term study means they can determine the frequencies and types of signals our drones receive and transmit. That is useful information for both detecting drones and possibly interfering with their signals.
They may be able to find the drone's surveillance capabilities (what detectors/imagers/etc are on board? What wavelength infrared? How many megapixels on the cameras? Passive night vision?) That can help them develop countermeasures to surveillance - better camouflage, hiding techniques, decoys ...

They may be able to determine other vulnerabilities and capabilities.

The information gathered may not be directly useable by the Iranians or their fellow travellers, but there is a market for such data.

[rm9792]

By the time thay collect all that it can have been changed.