Iran Receives an Early Christmas Present from the US, a Stealthy RQ-170

The US Air Force lost a top secret RQ-170 SENTINEL over Iran, not that long after a secret stealth helicopter was lost. That should be very helpful to Iran, China and Russia. From previous reports, we learn that two of these same RQ-170s were used to get bin Laden.

Mission
The RQ-170 is a low observable unmanned aircraft system (UAS) being developed, tested and fielded by the Air Force. It will provide reconnaissance and surveillance in support of the joint forces commander.

Background
The Air Force's RQ-170 program leverages the Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs and government efforts to rapidly develop and produce a low observable UAS. The RQ-170 will directly support combatant commander needs for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to locate targets.

The RQ-170 is flown by Air Combat Command's 432nd Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., and the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range, Nev.

U.S. intelligence officials acknowledge that the stealthy RQ-170 Sentinel drone was used to provide ISR support for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad.

The Sentinel did several key variety of tasks during the raid such as providing real-time imagery of the compound to the President and other authorities in DC to monitoring Pakistani military communications, all while orbiting overhead undetected, according to the Washington Post.

It could also have jammed Pakistani radars and beamed its footage of the compound to the SEALs in their inbound choppers.

Intelligence officials acknowledge that the CIA used the Air Force’s RQ-170 in Pakistan for months to monitor bin Laden’s house which lies within Pakistan’s air defense intercept zone that surrounds the capitol city of Islamabad.

The aircraft allowed the CIA to glide undetected beyond the boundaries that Pakistan has long imposed on other U.S. drones, including the Predators and Reapers that routinely carry out strikes against militants near the border with Afghanistan.

All this paints a picture of a raid that was indeed carried out without Pakistani knowledge (or, to give Islamabad plausible deniability with regard to the raid, for you skeptics). The remaining question is; were there really only two stealth helos used in the operation? Why use a stealth drone and two stealth helicopters and then send in two-to-three MH-47s that can be detected by radar deep into Pakistan to retrieve the SEALs and collect evidence? How did they do that without being detected?



Read more:

Cheers for Collateral Damage, especially in Pakistan?

Cynical, perhaps, but if a little collateral damage gives pause to those contemplating hosting your enemies, maybe that is an unintended benefit.

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'Drone raid' kills many in Pakistan

Suspected US drone attacks have sparked public anger for inflicting civilian casualties [AFP]
Suspected US missile strikes have killed at least 17 people in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani intelligence officials said missiles from the suspected US drone struck twice on Thursday in two nearby areas of the country's north west.

In the deadliest incident, ten missiles hit two compounds in the Ambarshaga area of the North Waziristan tribal region, killing 15 people, The Associated Press news agency reporting, citing officials.

Officials said at least seven of the dead were "foreign" fighters, a term Pakistani officials use to refer to al-Qaeda recruits operating in the tribal regions.

'Militant base'

Earlier, two people were killed in a missile strike on two houses close to the main district town of Miranshah.

"The American drone fired two missiles, killing two militants and badly damaging a house and an attached guest portion. A car was completely destroyed," the AFP news agency quoted a security official based in Miranshah as saying.

"The militants rented out this house and were using it as a base."
Unmanned drones are often the weapon of choice for the United States as it targets the Taliban and al-Qaeda in remote, rugged areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. But the US military has rarely confirmed the attacks.

The use of so-called Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which allow the military to operate in highly dangerous areas, is expected to grow in the coming years with the US defence department expected to buy 700 next year alone.

But the long-distance, remote-controlled warfare has sparked public anger for inflicting heavy civilian casualties.

The US government has called on Islamabad to step up its efforts against Taliban- and al-Qaeda-linked fighters who cross over into Afghanistan.

The Pakistani army recently completed an offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, which borders North Waziristan.

But Pakistani authorities say the military may soon pursue similar operations in other parts of the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border.