Iranian engineer: We hacked U.S. drone

by Joshua J. McElwee on Dec. 15, 2011

The unmanned aerial U.S. attack drone that was downed in Iran was felled by exploiting a navigational weakness, an Iranian engineer studying the craft has revealed to the Christian Science Monitor.

The engineer, not named in the report, tells the Monitor that the Iranians knew to exploit a weakness in the craft's GPS navigation system to force it to land.

The report also notes that news of Iran's ability to down the drone comes as the U.S. and some other nations appear to be engaged in a covert-war with the the country.

I have a friend who is a

Submitted by bobtr900 (not verified) on Dec. 15, 2011.

I have a friend who is a Ph.D. physicist. He brought you the inkjet printer that you are using. He has said, as have other engineers I have known, that what is done can be undone. Also---engineers often say that something is "good enough for government work". They are saying, I and no competent engineer would do something that way but it seems to be okay and acceptable by the government. This drone issue is just another example of that.

Or to put it another way. The best laid plans of mice and men...

What is sad is that the

Submitted by Wardog00 (not verified) on Dec. 16, 2011.

What is sad is that the phrase "good enough for government work" used to mean that the product was great; it started during WWII as we ramped up production.

After the war this phrase became ironic, as the standards and quality of government projects shifted from military to political control.

Now it is a statement of contempt for the products that go to government projects.

This is what results from

Submitted by Stanley P. Kopacz (not verified) on Dec. 16, 2011.

This is what results from irresponsible exposure of advanced military technology. Iran is not Afghanistan. They've a large population of educated, young people with nothing better to do than to hack our high tech systems. Well, at least , this may cancel out some false pride.

Drones have their advantages,

Submitted by Austin (not verified) on Dec. 19, 2011.

Drones have their advantages, but also the disadvantage of not having a pilot to override commands from a hacker. We try to stay a step ahead of the hackers, but eventually, they catch up. If we fly drones over Iran, some of them are going to be lost. Lost to mechanical problems, lost to hacking, etc.
It's really to be expected.

We are currently engaged in a covert war with Iran. Look for more incidents in the near future.

Another War? This time with

Submitted by Mildred R Bean (not verified) on Dec. 19, 2011.

Another War? This time with Iran?

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