Saturday, October 1, 2016

Iran unveils new attack drone, says it was based on captured US aircraft - FoxNews.com




by FoxNews.com

Military officials did not demonstrate the drone's abilities and did not say what range it had


This photo released on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, shows a new attack drone called Saegheh or Thunderbolt in an undisclosed location in Iran. Iranian media says the Revolutionary Guard has built a new attack drone which is similar to a U.S. drone captured five years ago. The semi-official Tasnim news agency says the "Saegheh" drone was built by the Guard's aerospace division and is similar to the RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone. (Sepahnews of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards via AP)
This photo released on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, shows a new attack drone called Saegheh or Thunderbolt in an undisclosed location in Iran.  
(Sepahnews of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards via AP)


Iran's Revolutionary Guard unveiled a new attack drone which is similar to a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle captured five years ago and is capable of carrying bombs, state media reported on Saturday.

The drone, called the "Saegheh," or Thunderbolt, was unveiled at an expo showcasing the latest achievements by the Revolutionary Guard.

"This long-range drone is capable of hitting four targets with smart precision-guided bombs with high accuracy," the head of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace arm, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA, Reuters reported.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said the drone is similar to the RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone used by the U.S. Iran's state-run Press TV said the long-range drone can carry four precision-guided bombs.

Military officials did not demonstrate the drone's abilities and did not say what range it had.

Iran claimed to have shot down an RQ-170 drone used by the Central Intelligence Agency in December 2011 and broadcast footage of the recovered aircraft. It also claims to have captured three American ScanEagle drones.

Iran said last year that it had successfully tested its replica of the RQ-170.

Also on Saturday, Tasnim published photos of what it said was a U.S.-made MQ-1C drone captured recently by the Guard. The news agency did not say when or how the drone was captured.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.


FoxNews.com

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/10/01/iran-unveils-new-attack-drone-says-it-was-based-on-captured-us-aircraft.html

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

No comments:

Post a Comment