December 12, 2011 - 17:02 AMT
Iran may replicate U.S. drone

A senior member of Iran's Majlis said the nation's military intends to carry out reverse engineering on the American RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaissance drone that was brought down by Iran's air defense personnel last week.

According to Deputy Chairman of the Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Hossein Ebrahimi, given the scientific capabilities of Iranian military, it will replicate the captured U.S.-built stealth aircraft in the near future.

He added that “enemies cannot simply confront the Islamic Republic of Iran, since the country enjoys a variety of devices and advanced technologies that they are not aware of.”

Iranian military's electronic warfare units brought down the U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft on December 4 with minimal damage. The spy drone was flying over the eastern city of Kashmar, some 225km (140 miles) from the Afghan border.

Iran earlier announced that it intends to carry out reverse engineering on the captured RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft, which is also known as the Beast of Kandahar, and is similar in design to a U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bomber, PressTV reported.