Tehran Releases Video Showing Alleged RQ-170 UAV

The government of Iran has released a two minute video of what it says is the U.S. RQ-170 UAV it claims to have captured earlier this week, but some are questioning the video's authenticity.

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Iran claims to have brought down the UAV with an "electronic ambush" which left the aircraft only slightly damaged. Iran claims it was flying about 140 miles into Iranian airspace across the border with Afghanistan.

Some military analysts, though, are questioning whether the aircraft shown on the video is an actual RQ-170 Sentinal.  John Pike with GlobalSecurity.org told the Associated Press that what he saw on TV looked more like "a parade float" than a high-tech stealth aircraft. He said what was shown on Iranian television differed in several ways from most photographs of the Sentinal.

For its part, the Pentagon is being very tight-lipped about the incident. While military officials have confirmed that a Sentinal was lost, they will say only that they are "studying" the video from Iran. One official speaking on condition on anonymity said that even if it is the real thing, it is unlikely that Iran will be able to discover much about the aircraft or recover any of the surveillance data it may have gathered. (Image credit Truthdowser)

FMI: www.dod.gov