Iran changes tune on ‘foreign drone’ capture

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle said to have been downed turns out to be military drill prop

Iranian state TV shows what purports to be an intact ScanEagle drone aircraft, December 4, 2012 (photo credit: AP/Al-Alam TV)
Iranian state TV shows what purports to be an intact ScanEagle drone aircraft, December 4, 2012 (photo credit: AP/Al-Alam TV)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard is denying that it captured a foreign unmanned aircraft during a military exercise in southern Iran.

A spokesman for the Guard, Yasin Hasanali, told The Associated Press that the drone was actually being used during the drill as a supposed enemy aircraft.

Iranian media on Saturday quoted a spokesman for the Guard as saying that its electronic warfare unit had taken control of a foreign drone’s navigation system and forced it to land during the site of the military exercise.

Iran has claimed to have captured several US drones, including an advanced RQ-170 Sentinel CIA spy drone in December 2011 and at least three ScanEagle aircraft.

The Guard’s military exercise, code-named Great Prophet-8, ends on Monday.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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