Iran to produce invasive drone aircraft

14:43 - 18 December 2011
Kurdpa - Iran\'s military has the ability to build unmanned aircraft and is in the process of doing so, Fars News reported citing country\'s defense minister Ahmad Vahidi, as saying.

\"Iran already has several long-range aircraft with high detection capabilities along with several models of invasive drones and is working to produce its own invasive aircraft,\" Vahidi said.

Iran\'s military has the ability to build unmanned aircraft and is in the process of doing so, Fars News reported citing country\'s defense minister Ahmad Vahidi, as saying.

\"Iran already has several long-range aircraft with high detection capabilities along with several models of invasive drones and is working to produce its own invasive aircraft,\" Vahidi said.

According to previous reports, Iran\'s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that the country \"is capable of designing its own remote-controlled drones\".

Iranian Armed Forces downed the U.S. RG-170 drone on Dec. 4, 140 miles inside the Iranian border from Afghanistan. Later, The Islamic Republic protested the violation of Iran\'s airspace by a U.S. drone.

The unmanned surveillance plane lost by the United States in Iran was a RQ-170 stealth aircraft being used for secret missions by the CIA, US officials admitted earlier this week. The aircraft is among the highly sensitive surveillance platform in the CIA\'s fleet that was shaped and designed to evade enemy defenses.

Lately, U.S president Barack Obama asked Iranian authorities to return the drone back, however the Islamic Republic has refused to do so.