Iran likely made captured US drone lose brain: CSM report

The Christian Science Monitor (CSM) said in a Tuesday report that the technique likely used by the Islamic Republic was “spoofing,” through which Iranian specialists reconfigured the drone's GPS coordinates to make it land in Iran at what the drone thought was its actual home base in Afghanistan.

    It also cited a source as saying, "By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain."


Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) captured the spy drone over the Persian Gulf waters upon its intrusion into the Iranian airspace on Tuesday.

IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi made the announcement on Tuesday, adding that the Iranian armed forces enjoy full intelligence command over foreign movements in the Persian Gulf region.

The drone, which has a wingspan of 10 feet (three meter), is a long-endurance aircraft built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing.

The CSM said a same technique was used in December 2011, when the Iranian military downed a US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft after the drone was spotted flying over the northeastern Iran city of Kashmar.