Iran will reverse-engineer the US drone it captured on December 4,
Iran's Press TV quoted a senior Iranian official as saying Sunday.
Parviz
Sorouri, member of the Majlis Committee on National Security and
Foreign Policy, said that his country will "mass produce" the drones in
the near future. He also said that the Iranian version would be "of
higher quality" than the original RQ-170 Sentinel, according to the
Press TV report.
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Souriri
added that decryption of the drone was in its final stages and that
soon Iran would be in posession of confidential US information.
The
advanced US drone was reportedly flying a mission over western
Afghanistan when it entered Iranian airspace and was intercepted.
“After it entered the eastern parts of the country, this aircraft fell
into the trap of our armed forces and was downed in Iran with minimum
damage,” said Revolutionary Guards Commander Ali Hajizadehhe upon the drone's capture December 4.
“With God’s help, we were able to bring down one of America’s most advanced planes... with minimal damage,”
he told the semi-official FARS
news agency.
Sourouri also claimed that Iran had developed advanced
capabilities in countering electronic warfare, stating that that these
contributed to the identification and distruption of the US electronic
system.
Last Thursday Iran’s state television
published pictures and a video of a
drone the Iranian military claimed it had shot down with an American
flag hanging from it.
The RQ-170 Sentinel, built by Lockheed Martin, was first employed by the
US Air Force in December 2009. It has a full-motion video sensor that
was used this year by US intelligence to monitor al-Qaida leader Osama
bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan ahead of the raid that killed him.