# I don't believe the drone lost over Iran is legit. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079 "2011-12-13T21:07:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/21 "2011-12-15T15:04:21Z")
Besides optimism, what reason does the OP have for feeling this was done on purpose? I see no upside. I don’t see a ton of political fallout, but the US looks pretty bad and incompetent for this. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/22 "2011-12-15T15:11:20Z")
Meh - this is MPSIMS… I just blurted out something mundane. Kick up some bantor. I’d sort of like it if I found out the whole thing was a ruse. It makes the Iranian officials say some pretty stupid things. Would be fun to drop a bogus drone on them with misleading technology, create a diversion and a misunderstanding and then use the latest ones in some covert anti-nuke campaign. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/23 "2011-12-15T15:38:12Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > What I find incredibly bizarre is that Obama has [publicly asked for it back](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/obama-asks-iran-rq-170-sentinel-drone-back/story?id=15140133). > > That really doesn’t sound like normal antagonistic diplomacy to me. Because of that I agree that there’s some interesting double- or triple-bluff jiggery-pokery going on. For the US president to take such a ‘humiliating’ stance in public there must be something else going on. Whenever a Soviet pilot defected the USSR always asked for their jet back. It’s just part of how the diplomacy-with-guns game is played. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/24 "2011-12-15T16:19:25Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > And the US just lost another one over [the Seychelles](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/13/another-u-s-drone-mysteriously-crashes-this-time-in-seychelles/). > > While I can understand overflying Iran (although it’s needlessly provocative in my opinion), why on earth is the US operating drones over the Seychelles of all places? Looking for pirates in the Indian Ocean? The Chinese are planning [to establish a navel base there](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203518404577096261061550538.html). ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/25 "2011-12-15T18:37:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The drone that the Iranian government displayed didn’t look damaged at all. It didn’t appear to have any crash damage. That was weird. I’m sure that they “shined it up” for its big presentation. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/26 "2011-12-15T18:40:51Z")
Never assign to conspiracy that which can just as easily be assigned to incompetence. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/27 "2011-12-16T02:55:00Z")
> [@Kozmik](#): > > I’m sure that they “shined it up” for its big presentation. [Iran’s claiming they hacked the drone and programmed it to land safely in Iran](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45685870/ns/world_news-christian_science_monitor/#.TuqyjPKwU7w). ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/28 "2011-12-16T07:12:33Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > The Chinese are planning [to establish a navel base there](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203518404577096261061550538.html). Are the Chinese planning to go “Navels bare” or “Navels covered” in the Seychelles?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/29 "2012-06-29T16:23:13Z")
_American researchers took control of a flying drone by hacking into its GPS system - acting on a $1,000 (£640) dare from the US Department of Homeland Security ._ [BBC Link.](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18643134) _Hacked drones could become missiles over U.S., researchers warn_ [Link.](http://www.itworld.com/security/282857/hacked-drones-could-become-missiles-over-us-researchers-warn) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/30 "2012-06-30T03:20:47Z")
Zombie kamikaze drones ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/31 "2012-06-30T05:02:03Z")
> [@](#): > > The spoofed drone used an unencrypted GPS signal, which is normally used by civilian planes, says Noel Sharkey, co-founder of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control. > > “It’s easy to spoof an unencrypted drone. Anybody technically skilled could do this - it would cost them some £700 for the equipment and that’s it,” he told BBC News. > > "It’s very dangerous - if a drone is being directed somewhere using its GPS, [a spoofer] can make it think it’s somewhere else and make it crash into a building, or crash somewhere else, or just steal it and fill it with explosives and direct somewhere. > > "But the big worry is - it also means that it wouldn’t be too hard for [a very skilled person] to work out how to un-encrypt military drones and spoof them, and that could be extremely dangerous because they could turn them on the wrong people underline mine They hacked a toy helicopter. I think their claim that a wouldn’t be too hard to do it to military encryption is overly optimistic. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/32 "2012-06-30T14:05:12Z")
This opens a whole new chapter in warfare-what if the USA is attacked by one of its own drones? Say a terrorist group gets control of one-and flies it into the White House-the executive branch gets taken out…and nobody says anything (the US DOD is too embarrassed, and the terrorists don’t want to show their hand). Truly bizarre! ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/33 "2012-06-30T15:41:27Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > …it also means that it wouldn’t be too hard for [a very skilled person] to work out how to un-encrypt military drones and spoof them… > > They hacked a toy helicopter. I think their claim that a wouldn’t be too hard to do it to military encryption is overly optimistic. Yeah, that line reminds me of the recipe for rabbit stew: "This is a quick and easy recipe, using ingredients that almost everyone has around the house. First, catch a rabbit…" ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/34 "2012-06-30T15:51:14Z")
How about a not-so-good test version of a drone? We will it with false technology leads (Stealth against smell detection, Psi-based sensors, 1920’s death rays) maybe even computer viruses and let that sucker malfunction over Iraq? I like the idea. Tom Clancy, call your office! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079.md?page=1)