Iranian media is reporting that its country’s military has captured a US ScanEagle drone that was flying in its airspace. Reuters explains that a ScanEagle drone — a small, endurance UAV commonly used for reconnaissance — was gathering information over Gulf waters when it entered Iranian air space.
It was then, apparently, captured by the naval unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The Iranian Fars news agency has reported that the drone was captured “in the last few days”, but there are no further details about when or how it was caught.
The ScanEagle, manufactured by Boeing, is a pretty cute little thing: 1.2m long with a 3m wingspan, it cruises at a speed of about 60 knots.
This time last year, NATO lost a top-secret RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone in Iran, which went on to be thoroughly analysed by Iranian engineers. This ScanEagle almost certainly awaits a similar fate. The US Navy is “looking into” the issue. [Reuters]
Image: USMC