(Defense News) Dave Majumdar - After Iran claimed it captured a U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel UAV last week, U.S. Air Force Chief Gen. Norton Schwartz raised the specter of a foreign power copying the stealth jet's top-secret technology. "There is the potential for reverse engineering, clearly," he said. The captured aircraft will help adversaries copy U.S. stealth design techniques, coating materials, engine technology, and UAV command-and-control systems, said Dan Goure, an analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va. It will also help them develop countermeasures against stealthy U.S. aircraft. Moreover, "Everybody now will get an understanding of our state-of-the-art intelligence collection capabilities."
2011-12-12 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive