The ScanEagle drone collects mostly photographic and video images using equipment with little intelligence value, experts say.
An image from Iranian state TV's Arabic-language channel Al-Alam shows what they purport to be an intact, captured ScanEagle drone aircraft. The U.S. says none of its drones in the region are missing.
Iran claimed today it had taken another prize in a growing showdown with Washington, D.C., over drone surveillance, displaying a purported U.S. unmanned aircraft it said was captured intact. The U.S. Navy, however, said none of its drones in the region was missing.
The conflicting accounts could put pressure on both sides for more details on U.S. reconnaissance and Iranian counter-measures.
They also point to other questions, including how Iran could manage to snatch the Boeing-designed ScanEagle drone without noticeable damage to its light-weight, carbon-fiber body or whether the aircraft could be from another Gulf country that deploys it.
The ScanEagle collects mostly photographic and video images using equipment with little intelligence value, experts said. One called the craft a “large seagull” with cameras.Monitoring of Gulf air and sea traffic is considered of high importance for the U.S. military. Iran has taken steps to boost its naval and drone capabilities, unsettling Washington’s Gulf Arab allies. Iran also has threatened in the past to try to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz — the route for one-fifth of the world’s oil — in retaliation for Western sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
“We had warned American officials not to violate our airspace. We had formally protested such actions and had announced that we protect our borders,” state TV quoted Foreign Minister Ali Abkar Salehi as saying.
Asked about Iran’s assertion that it had captured a U.S. drone, White House press secretary Jay Carney said “we have no evidence that the Iranian claims are true.”
Cmdr. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said there are no Navy drones missing in the Middle East.
Other countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, also have ScanEagle drones in their fleets. It’s used by other militaries, but not among Iran’s close allies.