US Drone Downed in Yemen is Stranger Than it Looks!

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[@zimcoder]

The USA believes it is the only country with capacity and capability. The arrogance of it all.

[@jaykiller4510]

I mean they were for a hot.minute. but them people came from all over the.world. thats why i dont u derstand why everyone waited so long to show how tough they were. They needed to catch up and surpass and hack.

[@chebichevinovichskic]

@@jaykiller4510 My god, the delusion.

[@kalgstol]

American exceptionalism is real

[@Fatima-mu8cb]

👍 @zimcoder

[@The_Dark_Lord-69]

​@chebichevinovichskic It’s typically the non-technical fanboys. As an engineer, it is easy to understand how simple it is for other countries to have developed countermeasures to US military tech .

[@cedardrive4599]

The Houthis have now downed six reaper drones, not three.

[@bbbl67]

Yeah, but the Americans don't acknowledge the other three. I'm guessing that the other three were CIA Reapers too, rather than AF Reapers. The AF acknowledges its drones, the CIA doesn't. However, there are 6 videos of the 6 drones that the Yemenis have, whether they are acknowledged or not. I suspect that the CIA wouldn't acknowledge this one either, except that it's sitting right there in the sand for everyone to take pictures of.

[@FirstNumber1]

That would be scary

[@Happy11807]

You believe in fantasy tails !

[@michaelg.9791]

@@Happy11807 Nah, you need more research.

[@osomnm431]

China/ Russian weapons

[@patrickkinney4998]

I worked drones in Afghanistan. No aircraft had markings. I worked for civilian contractor. CIA was next door. No markings.

[@zazugee]

in my country the inteligence headquarters have no markings, nor even a signboard on the maingate.

[@Ali_Haji_SouthAfrica]

We will trust your word 🙏

[@jedahn]

Use less paint/decals. Save money

[@RJFP67]

I fear for our countries comeuppance ? 😢

[@benjamespaulk5978]

why do we pretend other countries don't have tech?

[@donaldkasper8346]

Image is photoshopped. NO plane just zooms in and lands in sand. It digs in, flips, breaks to bits, char and bits and long trench.

[@i.c.wiener2750]

Because that country is one of the poorest countries in the world? Like why do you expect them to have tech when they don’t even have running water or electricity lmao

[@josue_kay]

​@@i.c.wiener2750 And yet you got chased out of Afghanistan and beaten up in Iraq 😂

[@josue_kay]

​@@donaldkasper8346 You've been watching too many Hollywood films.

[@Phearsum]

@@donaldkasper8346 It's not a plane. It's a drone. If it loses control, it will glide. They're nowhere near as heavy as a plane and do not land as heavily. It could very easily glide and land in sand without breaking into a million pieces.

[@bbbl67]

It could be way worse than just GPS jamming. Back in 2011, Iran actually took over control of a US RQ-170 drone, and landed it in Iran, studied it, and displayed it in a museum for years afterward. This is long before the Ukraine war. So this could mean that the CIA has lost control of its drones, and the Houthis, through help from the Iranians are taking control of and landing CIA drones! As for Iranian tech, if you think Iran is not pushing the envelope, you're completely wrong, the Russians chose Iranian tech because it didn't have some of this tech itself. It's just Western bigotry to think the Russians are more advanced than Iran.

[@thelovertunisia]

Absolutely right.

[@kasparien]

Exactely, and I thought he was going to talk about that event, given the drone was intact.

[@peterIV88]

Well spoken sir👌

[@weaverjoshuab]

No. Iranians are Muslim so they’re automatically behind Russians (white)

[@zazugee]

you're right, different countries have different technologies, he also forgot to mention China actually the shahed drone from some article i read was actually based on a drone concept/prototype made by germany then israelis bought the plans and sold them to china, an china sold them to Iran, so yeah, israel sold NATO drone tech to Iran via China xD

[@eastafrika728]

The biggest point here is that America is in every conflict going on right now around the world, isn't that a pathology?

[@chrisholder4978]

Ya, that is how a hegemony works

[@dsplabusc]

pathological colonialism. Why cant US just tuck itself in its shell and try to fix problems at home like homelessness and rising home prices before it dicks around at other places in the world?

[@donaldkasper8346]

Called world superpower protecting access shipping lanes to resources. What superpowers do and how they get to be superpowers.

[@Free-zz4kf]

@@donaldkasper8346 the US became a superpower by focusing on its self, not on over extending into every country on earth like Britain which oddly enough isn't a super power anymore.

[@CurtisThomas-l9p]

Called warmongering profiteering

[@E.D.998]

"Japanese are not sophisticated enough to have torpedoes that travel twice as long as ours" -someone in 1941, minutes before losing several cruisers.

[@sunriseboy4837]

Yep, and they pissed their pants when they got first sight of the Mitsub. A6M Zeros. The politicians horse-laughed those babies saying they were five years away....LOL!

[@thinkingtoomuch7974]

It's actually only costs US$ 5 million but US$ 25 goes to politicians and miscellaneous charges.

[@Krazycat321]

😂😂

[@agagrawang1459]

It is money laundering machine schemes

[@navinstrument8353]

That's just like in "3rd world"

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

@@navinstrument8353 3rd world doesnt have the budget.

[@shadmansudipto7287]

No way it would even cost 5 million in China or Russia. There's nothing in it to cost that much. Even an SU35 costs "Between $14.6 million and $18.8 million"

[@Skepticof]

Nothing worse than underestimating your enemy.

[@sukaenacornelius9285]

True. The most ill equipped people are American patriots and always will be because they’ll never receive support of billions from other nations. But they can pretend to be. Which i sad. Look at their boarder.

[@sheikhqh716]

Well said my good brother

[@Baraka-yl2dp]

It's the sixth drone downed, not the third.

[@asdnfakjfsdlasdjfksalf]

Let me guess, you also think that the Houthis hit the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower?

[@Baraka-yl2dp]

@@asdnfakjfsdlasdjfksalf what I stated there is the truth and that's a fact whether you believe in it or not. BTW, the US aircraft carrier was indeed hit whether propagandized people like you believe in it or not or whether you like it or not does not matter it does not change the fact.

[@Reem_SomS]

⁠​⁠@@asdnfakjfsdlasdjfksalfno they don’t hit it, but because the ship is in very secure location and they don’t have any reason to believe the ship can be hit they take it far away! Stop being a brainwashed. See the facts! The ship is in risk of an successful attack!

[@EmmanuelAU03]

@@asdnfakjfsdlasdjfksalf its publicly known information??

[@gozitan5]

Iran ‘If they cared they would do literally anything’ That statement is nonsense.

[@mohamedoraby580]

And then they keep talking about militias backed by iran and iran proxies ( as if we have 2 irans here..one doesn't care ..and one is master mind behind every attack against Israel and US

[@mr.o_17_]

Exactly they can't and they are not ready to fight Israel because the USA is backing it. And in any time iran would go on war with Israel the USA and the UK will get involved. That's why iran is using proxies

[@gzman501]

Iran actually has a law that says they donate a certain amount to Palestine. They've had this law for quite some time. Dude knows nothing about Iran. Does he have a clue where Hezbollah, Yemen, IRI and even Syria get most their weapons and tech?

[@alexsal8408]

That got me puzzled too. What is he on about?!! Set aside he is waffling on about Palestine or Iran. He can't analysis his own toenails in that case.

[@Yas-wu2oh]

This guy is stupid, all he Saïd make no sense

[@thedarksage328]

A 30 million dollar aircraft should have an Inertial navigation system and not completely rely on a jammable GPS

[@TheBasedNinja]

At the very least, on loss of GPS signal it would engage in a flyhome protocol

[@intractablemaskvpmGy]

Yes! I find it hard to believe there would be no redundancy/backup for positioning.

[@wagnerrp]

A $30M aircraft should have a shielded, directional receiver, that couldn’t be jammed from the ground.

[@davidbilich1708]

They don't jam the signal they spoof it. The drone sees a stronger signal broadcasting the same wavelength. The drone thinks it is flying much higher than it should be and starts dumping altitude.

[@davidbilich1708]

@wagnerrp that's not how GPS works though.

[@rajeshradhakrishnan-xk1lh]

The question is, what is your drone doing half way across the world? Take any conflict , and the US is in it.

[@asdnfakjfsdlasdjfksalf]

The Houthis should’t mess with shipping lines. Simple as.

[@vypa-bk1iy]

@@asdnfakjfsdlasdjfksalf you shouldnt be supplying bombs via ships to middle eastern conflicts half way around the world and voila your ships carrying war armaments eont be targeted by anti war factions.

[@a_bar8579]

America protects its allies there and its interests!

[@vypa-bk1iy]

@@a_bar8579 your quote and quote allies have dragged you into countless endless wars that cost you immeasurable blood, treasure and time. Especially fighting people who want nothing more to live in their traditional societies in their own corner of the world raising their sheep or whatever it may be. Consider that not all problems require military solutions and not all disputes are your countries problems.

[@asdnfakjfsdlasdjfksalf]

@@vypa-bk1iy lol, sure. America needs to send weapons to Israel through the Red Sea. Get your geography straight.

[@DrBrightSCP]

I was in Afghanistan around 2010 we had this drone at Kandahar airfield. Its 2024 now and drone technology has advanced way beyond this expensive dinosaur.

[@robertthomas1286]

You assume it hasn’t been upgraded in that timeframe. That is a foolish assumption.

[@williamwilson6499]

B-52

[@DrBrightSCP]

@@robertthomas1286 I think the fact we are still using it and surprised by the outcome shows why our defence Budget is so over bloated . The Ukraine war has completely changed warfare from what everyone planned for 10 years ago and are producing today in 2024. Everybody has drones these days from the goat herders to the Russians and has time to figure out counter measures.

[@josue_kay]

@@robertthomas1286 yes it's had a paint upgrade 😄

[@vapormissile]

​@@williamwilson6499amen. These kids...

[@benfowler1134]

The Houthis ARE sophisticated. They get a lot of help from the Iranians. Advanced RF stuff comes from Russia. And China have an interest in stealing as much advanced Western technology as possible.

[@StealthHalcon9]

ORRR why don’t you realize Saudis also use those exact drones for YEARS over Yemen. This ain’t new for them. We also don’t care cus Saudis are one of our biggest buyers. Not only that we ain’t gonna wipe the Houthis cus we also get paid VERY WELL to protect the Saudis from them

[@---ny4ys]

Everyone is just dumb and thinks they're sand rednecks with rpg7s riding around in jeeps. Don't realize they have long range missles. Shahed drones and more

[@johnroe3915]

Stop lying to yourself. The Chinese already have advanced drone tech. Their commercial drones are already advanced, imagine thier military drones.

[@jayklink851]

Sounds like a case of blowback. On an unrelated note, there are several DIA reports showing that Israel sold China, illegally, advanced US missiles and the laser targeting instruments/guidance systems for precision weapons. This Defense Intelligence Agency report was from 2013; but apparently, the US gov't has caught Israel selling advanced tech to China several times in the last 25+ years. To be completely honest, I had no idea this occurred until I talked with one of my dad's tennis buddy, he spent decades in the DOD (IFVs). I've read the articles/reports which are easily accessible via Google. Where any of you guys aware of this? I sure wasn't, and it makes me pissed; it really helped with some of Chinas modernization efforts.

[@pjhgerlach]

The Houthis are just ordinary pirates given sophisticated weapons.

[@ianweniger6620]

Yemen's military has been using top-shelf guided weapons since the 1970s. Their IRBM tech is Iranian but the rockets to Eilat were homemade. Yemeni engineers also seem to have converted their 1980s Soviet rockets to kerosene and got Iranian tweakage to keep the parts functional. Their hits on Red Sea warships are made with Iranian weapons and reverse-engineered Iranian and Soviet models. And the blockade is apparently going to start biting global capitalism as insurance, security and fuel costs of 3/4s of the world's shipping reroutes around the Cape of Good Hope...

[@markusleboschka6878]

Iran has managed to hijack drones before, they are quite good at drones.

[@mrvwbug4423]

Yes, drones have become a bit of an equalizer in modern warfare. Even countries without huge MIC can quickly develop and produce effective combat drones. And consumer drones are easily modified into cheap improvised weapons systems.

[@omarb8655]

Terrorist attack on Yemen. Yemen has the right to defend its territory from terrorist attacks🤣🤣🤣

[@terjeoseberg990]

@@mrvwbug4423, No they can’t.

[@Rhotz-ix8ll]

Yes…the US was using an unencrypted control signal. Unbelievably stupid.

[@jameskrell4392]

Made from balsa wood

[@minerran]

Paul, I don't agree with your theory. The details of how reaper works is obviously classified but I highly doubt that its programmed to auto-land if GPS is jammed. Even if GPS goes out, the encrypted control channel between operator and vehicle will still be up and like you said, a self destruct will be initiated either by the pilot or in a default scenario. Even if GPS were jammed, UAVs still have accelerometers, barometers and magnetometers that allow them to find their way. Even a $500 DJI civilian "drone" has all those sensors. The vehicle could find its way back to home within a few hundred feet without GPS and without operator control. I just don't think any country has the ability to override the reaper control for a controlled landing unless FSB has somehow been able to steal classified details from General Atomics that allow them to take control. If the Russians had that, I doubt they'd be letting Iran in on the secret who then inform the Houthis. We need to look for another explanation, IMHO. I agree with you that it was not shot down given the picture. One of my coworkers is ex-USAF and was a reaper pilot. I will ask Monday if this person has heard about reapers being shot down and see what reaction I get, then will let you know if I hear anything interesting. I'm not going to hear anything classified, for obvious reasons nor would I post such info if I was accidentally told.

[@shitguy7615]

Incredible and credible.

[@mistahshade]

It could've been a Saudi MQ9

[@minerran]

@@mistahshade I didn't know about that, thanks for commenting.

[@NapoleonGelignite]

GPS spoofing got a stealth drone to land in Iran a couple of years ago.

[@davidroberts9099]

If everything you said is accurate I would lean towards the Reaper being hacked. I work in InfoSec for a living.

[@SohoComedyClubLondon]

Hey Paul, around 2003 I had lunch with the Russian head of military development and acquisition. He was bragging about their GPS jamming and spoofing technology. They first tested it in Serbia during the war there. So they’ve been working on this for a long time.

[@merijnhugens]

After the 9/11 inside job controlled demolition, president Putin knew very well that besides countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran and China, Russia was also on Uncle Shmuel's shopping list. That is why he gave the order to develop hypersonic missiles in 2001, he officially presented them in 2018...

[@rajaydon1893]

The ruskies are extremely good at electronic warfare, its one of the few things they are best at

[@SkeezyFPV]

@@merijnhugensand they were officially shot down by US Patriot batteries starting in 2023. 🥱

[@MandoMTL]

That thing is being disassembled in Shanghai right now.

[@Krazycat321]

Temu has it for sale.. $49.00!!

[@andyspoo2]

@@Krazycat321 With free postage 😁

[@ex0duzz]

China already and that tech decades ago. China is already the world leader in drones and wireless technology. Just see DJI, unitree etc. all sides in Ukraine are using Chinese drones, especially DJI. Even the US military are using DJI and Unitree drones..

[@Reem_SomS]

@@ex0duzzmaybe they don’t need the technology on it, but it will be beneficial for them to study and understand their enemy better!

[@ex0duzz]

@@Reem_SomS true, but I believe they have done so years ago already. I guess it doesn't hurt to be stay updated on the latest capabilities and what USA is currently up to.

[@kristiankruse3964]

Iran landed an intact RQ-170 a couple of years ago, so they have the know how

[@Poppagee69]

If it was US they would be using the GTREAL systems not jamable .

[@blue-pi2kt]

Yeah but it happens once and then that vector is patched or addressed. You need to keep finding new ways to get into these sorts of systems.

[@rodneyagesa1851]

​@@Poppagee69the US is not that sophisticated.

[@viktoreisfeld9470]

Yes. There is a huge difference between Jamming and Spoofing. All Sat nav systems are easily jammable. Jamming just means putting so much noise on a channel that the real signal cannot be received. Spoofing is broadcasting fake data that appears to be real. So, a spoofer could trick the GPS receiver into thinking the drone was somewhere else... anywhere in the world. How they likely forced the landing was either 1) broadcasting fake altitude data that made the drone think it was high in the air when it crashed or 2) tricking the drone into flying in circles until it ran out of fuel. Civilian GPS is very easy to spoof. Military GPS has anti-spoofing technology built in but it is not great and is not widely deployed. A lot of the GPS sats are not upgradable to new, more secure, version of GPS. It's expensive to replace sats, so widely available new versions of GPS are not coming soon. Russia, Iran, and China can all spoof US Military GPS. It is basically just very much like breaking a stream cipher. Jamming GPS is not expensive. In places like the US (and UK) that allow car insurance companies to use GPS speed data and location data to set rates, GPS jammers can be bought off sites like ebay for under $20USD. Obviously, to create the kind of 40km to 60km "jam bubbles" that Russia is creating on the front lines in Ukraine, you need a lot more power and a larger antenna (or antennas/dishes). But, a little USB stick device that would fit in the palm of your hand can easily jam civilian GPS (and other networks) used by car companies for about .5KM or so around your car.

[@---ny4ys]

@@rodneyagesa1851 who's more sophisticated? I'll answer for you, no one on planet earth.

[@daisyseptimus561]

Houthi has claimed that they have shot down 9 of such drone.

[@mr.z3664]

The amount of copium in the comments is borderline overdose level. This isn't the first Reaper taken down, it's the sixth. This is the third one in the past month.

[@cameronspence4977]

Yeah there is something seriously wrong in the biden administration, I dont know what the **** these idiots are doing but they need to fix their 💩 now!

[@Make-Asylums-Great-Again]

Please stop coping.

[@jerseyshoredroneservices225]

Being shot down is different than taken control of and landed.

[@cameronspence4977]

@@jerseyshoredroneservices225 which is not what has happened to a single US drone. So irrelevant to mention that here

[@jerseyshoredroneservices225]

@@cameronspence4977 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93U.S._RQ-170_incident

[@redeyedmongoose2963]

Sounds to me, like it got jammed, and landed in a preservation mode

[@Ganiscol]

Which begs the question why there would be such a mode as opposed to a self destruct mode in case it is no longer controlled by its ground station. Further, its not that difficult to shield such a plane from ground based jamming by simply limit the antenna from receiving signals coming from below, this is especially true for GPS. I'd be surprised if a sophisticated drone like this doesnt feature that, there are images of cheap russian drones with such antenna shielding on top.

[@Ashley-dy7bx]

Do reapers have a preservation mode? Seems crazy to think they would, because they're almost always above enemy territory so that's asking for disaster.

[@lars_vegas]

Yeah but its not even cheap. What if it just lands and then deleted its HDD. Just a pice of modern Tech in the hands of goat "Farmers". If they try to srll IT to China the CIA will Take IT bevor China arrives. This was the Szenario for the Last 20 years

[@Phearsum]

@@Ashley-dy7bx Nothing in them is secret technology. It's not like we're trying to hide it. Most countries just don't have the ability to replicate it, even with the blueprints.

[@supersurfer1]

yea the 3rd in a couple of months 🤣

[@thelovertunisia]

Iranians ARE moving the ball forward regarding tech.

[@moehassona6009]

Iran shot a reaper couple years ago maybe they reversed engineering it to see how to best jam them?

[@davidbilich1708]

It's been spoofed by college kids using off the shelf components 20 years ago. It's not jamming. It's confusing the elevation GPS signal with one on the ground.

[@marcpedneault3362]

They didnt shoot it. They hacked it and landed it lol

[@shmulyitzkowitz6479]

Just said the same thing

[@Make-Asylums-Great-Again]

Rq180

[@mrvwbug4423]

They did, the Shahed 145 is an Iranian made clone of the Reaper.

[@muhammadabirhossain7216]

The fact that USA agreed of their losses makes it even more interesting

[@quantumcomata105]

That downed drone is gonna come outta your taxes Sergeant Strikegum!

[@Likeaworm]

Intel goldmine with the datalink on board 😬

[@Sepi-xh9tr]

30 million dollor drone 350 million us citizens probably 190 million tax payers that drone is like 20 cents out of the average tax payer check probably less with the top 1 % paying alot of the taxes

[@andyvonbourske6405]

they put that on the credit card . our grand children will be paying it twice probably if you consider interest .

[@kaltenburg2637]

😂

[@markusleboschka6878]

Paul was a Lieutenant ... if you want to piss people off use the proper ranks please.

[@MartinLundström-l4v]

It is said that in the 1600 century, they used stone cannon balls, although they had steal ones... Why? The steal cannon balls remained intakt, and could be fired back, whilst the stone cannon ball schattered at impact....😮😊

[@davidroberts9099]

The Romans used a special metal for some of their spears to prevent them from being used against them. The spear tip would be mangled after a single throw.

[@chrisholder4978]

Hold on now Willy Wonka....they werent made of steel in the 1600's. They were made out of cast iron.

[@yusofabuhassan6989]

Remember US Lost +5000 fighter jets and 6 B52 bombers to Vietnamese padi farmers. What a shame.

[@mongoose214]

Inertial navigation is a self-contained navigation technique in which measurements provided by accelerometers and gyroscopes are used to track the position and orientation of an object relative to a known starting point, orientation and velocity. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) typically contain three orthogonal rate-gyroscopes and three orthogonal accelerometers, measuring angular velocity and linear acceleration respectively. By processing signals from these devices it is possible to track the position and orientation of a device. In 2011, GPS jamming at the civilian level became a governmental concern.[11] The relative ease in ability to jam these systems has motivated the military to reduce navigation dependence on GPS technology.[12] Because inertial navigation sensors do not depend on radio signals unlike GPS, they cannot be jammed.[13]

[@mrvwbug4423]

And IRS systems can get their baseline position from GPS making them just as accurate as GPS. It's even used in airliners, GPS and IRS operate in tandem on all modern airliners.

[@minerran]

The cheapest commercial "drones" (toy grade) only have one accelerometer chip. More advanced IMUs when combined with a magnetometer (i.e. compass) and barometer (altimeter) can do a good job in navigating the vehicle close to where you want it to go. I'm guessing that the reaper has all that plus GPS plus an image recognition system to navigate with in the event the human pilot loses the control and video channel.

[@viktoreisfeld9470]

@@minerran Re images: This is the most common thing I've heard when discussing advances in nav technology. Basically using cameras and computer vision technology to recognize land marks (and even read street signs). Inertial nav may have advanced a lot since I worked with it. But, in my experience it was always supplemental to GPS because it is very difficult to do and you need to "start" it from a known location.

[@walkerig1]

You are forgetting that the Iranians all on their own; took control of the USA's most advanced stealth drone, the RQ170 and landed it in Iran. Iran has also captured and reverse engineered the full range of Israel's drones.

[@David-og2so]

American's haven't learned their lesson from the last time Iran stole one of their expensive high tech drones.

[@economiccrisis9267]

And Israel shot down the cheap Iranian copy

[@mrvwbug4423]

To be fair, drones are generally considered expendable. So they often get used for high risk missions because it doesn't put a human flight crew at risk.

[@chillxxx241]

@@mrvwbug4423These systems are being retired because of their vulnerabilities.

[@StealthHalcon9]

Not really… these drones are decades old and even when they get show down they have already collected surveillance and data even before entering a country’s airspace. These aren’t just attack drones, or kamikaze drones like irannnn. Sometimes they simply in the air for days at a time for surveillance.

[@N4CR]

@@economiccrisis9267 with a jewSA paid for missile that cost more than the drone, while missing lots of drones and being hit multiple times even with 4+ hour warning and the best tech from multiple nations (and multiple nations fighters) supporting you.

[@MrKornnugget]

30 Million? Well explains why I can’t afford Mc Donald’s anymore . 😂

[@georgechris1499]

OMG, nothing is invulnerable. Americans need to stop panicking when a piece of equipment is taken out.

[@mrvwbug4423]

Yeah, seriously it's a drone. It's a piece of military hardware that is generally considered expendable and for that reason is often used for high risk missions to keep human pilots out of harms way.

[@minerran]

I agree George! People are making a stink about Abrams being destroyed by FPV drones too. DoD never said Abrams was invulnerable and none of these "cold war" weapon systems were designed with the new reality of Ukraine in mine. The war in Ukraine is a military "watershed moment" much like WW1 was.

[@josue_kay]

Cope

[@shaf3006]

just three pieces of 30 million dollars drone, it just a small change, they can build more

[@jamescrowley2733]

It probably wasn't taken out. My guess is that it got too close to the ground and was jammed. Weapons pods are empty. Seems like it dropped rather than landed. Air Force doesn't lose their reapers, CIA answers to nobody. We need to stop bombing folks.

[@strategic4124]

The game changing "wonder weapon" you're looking for is - The "358" missile which is a loitering, surface-to-air missile, that flies in a figure of eight pattern searching for targets, developed by Iran.

[@LonelyPeanut]

One thing to note, Reapers MQ-9 are operated by about a dozen countries. The most likely explanation for the lack of markings would be CIA but this could also be another IA's craft.

[@nunyabidness3075]

Exactly.

[@mrvwbug4423]

The most likely would be Israel, and they don't operate the Reaper, they build their own drones. Another possibility is it could be a Shahed 145, that's an Iranian drone which looks almost identical to a Reaper.

[@sqnhunter]

I say it is the drone Iran has in possession. That's why no markings these days and no weapons on pods...the drone is undamaged...it was just placed in the desert somewhere in Iran...photographed and used by Houthis to say they shot it down....all propaganda...had Houthis shot it down...there would be Houthis dancing and shooting in the air everywhere in that pic.

[@steffenjespersen247]

Most countries would at least give it a number indication just for making maintenance & logistic easier.

[@StealthHalcon9]

ORRRRR here’s one for y’all. Saudi is one of the biggest clients of our military equipment including these drones used against the Houthis for YEARS now. Remember besides selling the Saudis equipment, we also get paid to protect them

[@ryanc9876]

How did it have such a gentle landing as to not really leave any discernable marks in the sand? The little dark area to the right of it (upper left-ish of the image) doesn't match the size of it if it skidded sideways. And if it was placed there, how did it get there with no tracks? The whole thing looks like a fake photo. I don't know whether or not they've downed a drone, but that image does not look like it's real.

[@xisotopex]

did you watch the video? is that faked as well? the hajis standing on it were just copied and pasted on there?

[@drgonzo305]

Being able to down a Reaper is like being able to down a Piper Cub or any other small aircraft. It’s not a real impressive capability

[@mattk8810]

You sure about that?

[@mr.z3664]

This wasn't downed, it was landed. And it's pretty sad if a $30 million drone is no different than a Piper cub. If that's the case, why not just use a Piper cub?

[@Youbetternowatchthis]

@@mr.z3664 a piper has a bigger radar signature slower air speed(not by much) and less range. If u stuff all that gear into a piper it would work almost as well and be just as expensive. The drone body is not the pricey part

[@davidbilich1708]

​@mr.z3664 a piper needs a pilot and can't be flown in the middle east by a guy sitting in texas.

[@mikeyo4406]

​@@mr.z3664 you work for RT as well! Haven't seen you in a while. Hope you are doing well and soaking up that Kremlin cash like the rest of us are!

[@yorubaatlas7743]

How they're able to achieve it with improvise tech is amazing

[@RonLWilson]

Even if GPS was jammed the drone could likely have known where it is using inertial navigation data, albeit with less accuracy so that would not explain why it was downed.

[@davidbilich1708]

They don't jam the GPS they spoof the signal.

[@MadRat70]

I suspect insiders in the alphabet agencies. Two past presidents appeared to be compromised by Iranian intelligence.

[@Loli4lyf]

iirc unofficial missions usually carried out without markings to prevent anyone from taking responsibilities if anything goes south

[@falcon127]

US Drone Downed in Yemen, WITH IRANIAN TECHNOLOGY.

[@Checklight66]

The Reaper in the photos maybe a fake mockup, on the U tube video I cannot see the camera housing under the nose, also although it may have lost GPS, it should not loose it's link to the pilot operating it. It should have some sort of at least compass on board available to the pilot if not an inertial navigation system as backup. There does not seem to be enough damage on such a small aircraft to have been hit by an SAM. The SAMs I'm aware of use expanding wire rings or small rods/shrapnel, the first of which would have cut such a small plane in half, the second riddled it with small holes, probably breaking off sections where composite materials where. At the resolution of UTube, I can see none of that. Lastly if it carried out automated landing as opposed to crashing and destroying the thing which you think would be the default, why is there no landing gear deployed? Possibly as surface unknown so safe option if you wanted to give intact to the enemy. In the absence of more evidence, my guess it is a fake.

[@vibert246ify]

It's the sixth reaper downed not the third.

[@sorincaladera936]

Its not a reaper, its a Shahed

[@robmorgan1214]

How vulnerable is the drone? As vulnerable as ANY SLOW MOVING HIGH CROSS SECTION airplane. The only real question is how good are their jamers, radars, and missiles?

[@nunyabidness3075]

1. 30 mil? Seriously? 2. That pic looks like someone took the parts of a wrecked drone or drones, and arranged them. 3. If our drones were getting tagged, we could just fly manned aircraft over the Houthis, so likely an export model. 4. 30 mil? That can’t be right. Even the Air Farce isn’t that stupid.

[@blue-pi2kt]

Given fewer than 1000 have probably ever been made, given how flexible and yet how highly specific the needs from the Operators are and how much cheaper it is to operate over comparable platforms like jet fighters..... It sounds like a bargain tbh. That figure also includes whole-of-life costs as opposed to the sticker price for the Drone off the shelf.

[@nunyabidness3075]

@@blue-pi2kt Okay, it’s not 30 mil. It’s 16 mil. That’s part of the problem, and while it’s still ridiculous, it’s the normal ridiculous. Another part of the problem is the original version was a 100hp gasoline powered model which was very similar to what the rest of the world is using quite effectively yet as far as I can tell the Air Farce and the rest of the government decided was useless. We could be building those for easily under half a million each. I’m a retired Army Officer who had a higher than average exposure to the problems of our appropriations and acquisitions which got further illuminated doing tech sales in a mid size company where I handled both commercial and government sales, and my last real job was selling aircraft. I have a pretty broad understanding of this whole subject area and the problems created by Congress, lawyers, low volume, high tech, etc.

[@simontillson482]

Never underestimate the capacity of the military industrial complex to inflate costs beyond all sense…

[@chrisholder4978]

ya 30 million....the sensitive tech in the cone of that drone's nose is where 25 million of that money is at.....

[@nunyabidness3075]

@@chrisholder4978 No, only 16 mil ever leaves the ground. Look it up.

[@cessealbeach]

Besides 6 Reapers NOT 3 ,They also took a Shot at $16Billion USS Eisenhower , had to head to port of jedda for emergency repair and away from houthie reach

[@lostlogic6911]

Seems like the Houthis downed another Iranian made MQ9 Reaper clone for propaganda purposes.

[@mr.z3664]

Copium overdose inbound.

[@lostlogic6911]

@@mr.z3664 Nope. The Houthis has already shown their evidence. And it's a drone that look like a reaper drone with no apparent american markings. Why no markings though? The only explanation is that it's a look-alike.

[@mr.z3664]

@@lostlogic6911 this is the sixth Reaper taken down, the third in the past month. This is however the first one the US seemingly doesn't acknowledge. The explanation is that this one wasn't supposed to be there, like everything CIA related.

[@lostlogic6911]

@@mr.z3664 Sure, and the US said they didn't lost anything, if they did they would have already neutralized the site that does it. Have you considered that fact? Also considering that the Houthis has access to Iranian made MQ9 look-alike, the likelihood that Houthis staged propaganda videos of downing such drones is very likely. If your only evidence that the CIA did this is because there is no markings on the drone is flimsy at best. Anybody with access to fiberglass and resin can make a reaper drone look-alike, slap some white paint on it with no markings and fly over some area for a video cam to watch the fireworks. Anybody can do that. Unless the Houthis gutted this drone and expose its parts as American, it ain't going to be much evidence of downing a drone.

[@mr.z3664]

@@lostlogic6911 put the pipe down and seek sobriety.

[@1234userrr]

US is on wrong side of history

[@AlexPelon-yu5bz]

Good information

[@scotthcomyns3426]

The Goth asked the Roman, "How did your empire collapse." Answer, "Slowly at first,then all of a sudden."

[@bestestusername]

The houthis are not as poorly equipped as people think, before the current drama they had a trained army and they are having supplies from other countries and it wouldn't shock if China not only iran passed on equipment to help. Could be a chinese or iran copy of american drones as well, they have more interest than americium having unmarked planes.

[@AldoSchmedack]

There is that too! Good point!

[@dzonikg]

They kicked ass Saudis when they tryed to invade them with brand New Abrams

[@bestestusername]

@@dzonikg Saudi army is quite weak, they got money to pay for the good stuff but no ability to use it

[@jodyrichards4433]

Looking at the "resting place", there is no disturbed soil/sand that is pushed out and away from a crash landed craft, even the pylon fir the hellfire missle is intact and not even scratched, dented, or dirty in any way. Even along the nose on the ventral side there is no buckling of the crafts skin from contact with the ground and no skid behind it from the view provided. Looks like a prop.

[@TdogTuggernuts]

Have you thought maybe this is AI or photoshopped

[@tobiascore]

That's what I was wondering. That picture is kinda ass.

[@billeastwood597]

cope

[@Subcode]

There appear to be way more shadows in the image than logical so it instantly looked like a fake image to me. The picture just looks really strange.

[@blakezhuko3906]

That was my first thought. The picture does not look legit

[@tatkkyo9911]

​@billeastwood597 it's best to explore all possibilities. It could be legit but it's always best to check.

[@thanareda2351]

American citizens should pressure the government to focus on internal American issues and to stop spending money abroad. Otherwise, America will be in a very bad situation.

[@timcavazos4199]

Its alright WW3 nobody just wants to admit it

[@Gapihamiha6]

3o mil and no selfdestruction charges

[@ethomephone3124]

Don’t forget China now has carbon copies of the MQ9s..

[@hallmobility]

Recall that a number of years ago Iran came up with a US X-47 drone (looked like a little stealth bomber) that it had downed largely intact. They announced they would reverse engineer the drone. So now they have a vast industry building drones and evidently can take control of these aircraft.

[@RobWalters-w7x]

That looks like a cheap knock off

[@Kaptain.Obvious]

Remember, we’re no longer employing/promoting our best and brightest, rather those who check the correct ‘boxes’. This is true in both our private and public sectors; most aggressively in our educational systems. EVERYTHING in our once great, proud and superior country is deteriorating rapidly.

[@epicjourneyman2145]

I worked at General Atomics for 13 years - yes, that's CIA.

[@loboxx337]

I worked at McDonald's yup that's CIA.

[@albertoperez993]

I'm a bum, it's fake no landing gear.

[@epicjourneyman2145]

@@albertoperez993 I'll inspect it more...it looks legit (they raise the landing gear in flight...it's as big as an A-10) but the Iranians pretty much copied the design, so it could be a PsyOp....the thing is, there are a good niumber of CIA airframes and they basically just "borrow" parts whenever they want to. They literally fly them from Langley.

[@AldoSchmedack]

Of all the theories mine too is CIA and they let them capture to see where all they would take so they can bomb hq and dev centers.

[@musicalneptunian]

General Motors > General Atomics

[@Raymond_Lee888]

The Indian defence forces have bought 31 of these lemons. Paying $4 billion for these lemons! 😄

[@wadadli4sun]

Odd , The PROPELLER at the rear looks like it's feathered (to reduce drag). This is normally done in case of engine failure.

[@viktoreisfeld9470]

My understanding is that this was done to reduce noise. Many modern anti-aircraft missiles have acoustic targeting systems, now. The acoustic system assists the primary system (radar) and secondary (heat - infrared camera). That's thanks largely to US Stealth bombers. And, that is why the F117 stealths were designed with turbo jet engines rather than ram jets w/ afterburn. That's why the F117s are so slow (and not capable of supersonic flight). The Blackhawk helicopters used by Navy Seals also have strange blade shapes to minimize noise - as we saw from the pictures when one of them was shot down during the Bin Laden raid. You can still find pictures of it on the internet if you're interested.

[@wadadli4sun]

@@viktoreisfeld9470 You feather a prop to reduce drag in case of an engine failure. More modern propellers often has a wider chord and a distinct curve to improve efficiency and noise by spinning slower. Not sure how much that affects radar signature. No fighter aircraft uses Ram jet, only some drone and Russian missiles. With regards too F117, it uses GE F404 engines, same as F/A-18 and the Indian HAL Tejas. It's a low bypass engine with no afterburner in the case of the F117A (afterburner is basically an extra burn chamber after the engine exhaust were you spay jet fuel that is ignited). This causes a large heat signature which the F117A didn't want, instead the engine thrust was ducted and modified to long thin exhausts. This would likely has resulted in some loss of thrust. Also a 'turbojet' is basically the same as the more modern bypass or hight bypass engines. Difference being that compressed air from the front stages is ducted around the engine for efficiency.

[@Kennethvitatoe-jc5pv]

That was a RC model I just got from Hobby town last week ,thanks Houthi bozo,s !

[@tacosauce2]

I dont normally comment but I'm pretty sure that these dudes wouldn't get their hands on said drone without the US allowing it. I bet they let them have it so they can track it right back to where exactly they're gonna hit next. Whole Time these dudes are convinced that they've done a "slap in the face" type thing to the US.

[@tacosauce2]

And before you guys come for me (pause) I just wanna say that I don't have a horse in this race. Just trying to look at it from a non biased perspective and im super down to hear others opinions on the matter without it becoming a fight.

[@MetalGrrrl]

This is what I thought, too: my first thought was that it might be intentional… Maybe they’re hoping the Houthis will take the drones back to their HQ or the place where they store their weapons, so the CIA can find and strike those targets…?

[@AldoSchmedack]

Another great post. Many neat ideas on this video and yours takes cake and that very well could be!

[@tacosauce2]

@@MetalGrrrl same! I just feel like they wouldn't overlook something like that. "Oh we lost a bazillion dollar asset and nobody thought to put a tracker on this damn thing"

[@levarcheatham9586]

Who said they are ill equipped they just hit the air craft carrier which sailed away from yemen and is now docked in the port of jeda with burns on the bowe and a tank sized hole in the deck and 50 sailors injured or killed. Israel even admitted a ballistic missile reach Israel before it was shot down

[@mjs2505]

Looks fake to me... Just saying

[@mr.z3664]

Are the other 5 also fake? Do you prefer snorting or smoking your copium?

[@mattk8810]

Looks israeli

[@mjs2505]

@@mr.z3664 It just looks photoshopped to me. Calm tfd.

[@mjs2505]

@@mattk8810 No, it looks American, lol... But photoshopped or something.

[@TdogTuggernuts]

I think maybe it’s AI generated

[@simondaly9960]

Hmm, not 1x MQ-9 Reaper, not 3x, but 6x are downed that the CENTCOM Reaper fleet is pulled from patrolling and attacking in that area.

[@joeyfrakes8523]

No Markings??? Not a spook drone!!!!😆😁👊😎

[@stephenbermingham6554]

30m a piece is pure corruption

[@williggg]

Looks like an AI-generated image to me.

[@ipodman505]

Ngl, that idea was floating in the back of my head. I'm no expert, so I wouldn't personally be able to tell if it was AI or not. But it would be nice if a few experts weighed in and took a look at this.

[@bichanopinto5963]

What I came here to say. Or a mock up model

[@AldoSchmedack]

But they had video not just pics....

[@A4Natty]

The US would have denied it if it wasn't true, but they have lost a drone, therefore cannot deny it

[@proven22x52]

Yeh no objects on the horizon and no footsteps in sand, its all sus

[@erikincph]

Don’t these drones have a compass incorporated as backup when the GPS gets jammed …The drone must be able to detect that’s being jammed …so then switch to compass and fly out of the jamming zone …That would save it

[@ZeCahliPreppingGroupInBio]

Looks fake

[@houssamadnane271]

there's a freaking video of it with houthis dancing on top of it lol how is fake

[@Vladviking]

These are long flights with Auto Pilot, the "pilot" was likely at the snack or coffee machine chatting up the attendant while the Hootie's bagged it.

[@donalddepew9605]

Photoshop!!

[@ВалентинПузыня]

там вроде видосик есть... если и подделка, то как минимум макет сделали...

[@NathanielRuzicka]

or AI, the image looks kind of glowy like you see in GPT images.

[@ВалентинПузыня]

@@NathanielRuzicka ага... а все кто видел видео с прыгающими на его крыле хуситами - боты?)

[@martianrays]

If that thing defaults to landing, we don't have the best and the brightest working for us, we have dumb and dumber. It's more sophisticated than a radio controlled drone, BUT it's still a radio controlled drone. The least they could do is have it blow up an hour after it lands.

[@gilde915]

Did anybody even consider if this is a real Reaper....?....i found more pictures from this, something is of....no skid marks behind the drone, it is missing the teardrop pod in front of the fin antenna in the mid section, the weapons station look pretty intact even after the skid on a hard surface, no tearing marks.....

[@AlexAlex-j3f]

Well it’s clear those Houthis didn’t make those weapons

[@alvarobarcala]

That's a digital 3D image, not a real photo of a drone. I worked with 3D and PS images for years and I can recognise them instantly. Look at the general atmosphere of the photo, so homogenous (like a video game) that it is not real. And there is an homogeneus "mist" applied on the whole image that is unreal, usually done to soften the way too straight outlines of an image generated digitally. But the most notorious fake thing is that the shadows under the drone are extremely defined, emulating the shape of the wings and so on... that's absolutely fake. Real shadows are not like that, but more undefined and dispersed, unless you put a lamp right on the object, as 3D modelling programs do. The texture of the surface of the drone is way too homogeneous too, like in a 80's videogame, fake as hell. Not to mention the fake lighting of the whole thing... And it has no marking because that should be added with photoshop after modelling the drone with a 3D program... and they have not even bothered to do that.

[@AldoSchmedack]

I agree on image.... but there is video of it as well. Much harder to fake.

[@N4CR]

it's just a filter with a shitty camera buddy, don't need to get too technical. they've taken 6 of these down now and there is far too much good footage to fake for some houthis...

[@xisotopex]

did you watch the video? is that faked as well?

[@manyshnooks]

What surprises me is that there isn't an INS in these systems that's *slaved* to the GPS and air data - Inaccuracies in inertial reference systems increases over time, but they are accurate enough to fly within a few nm "back home" once command and control & navigation signals have been lost. I'd be very surprised if there weren't two GPS receivers on board, both not just getting the L1 signal but the crypto protected military signal (which makes spoofing - but not jamming - far more difficult). By including a Rb clock onboard that is slaved and sync'd to GPS in a friendly area. There's a heap of cheap air data sensors which a team with college level avionics knowledge could engineer, as an example :- three AoA sensors, three MEMS gyros, six pressure transducers (three for pitot, three for static) and three accelerometers would give you enough data to control the aircraft safely and validate the authenticity of a failure of one of each sensors by some simple logic (it can be far more complex, but essentially a comparator that looks at all three of each sensor and if one drifts beyond a set point, then it is known to be faulty and you can continue on albeit with loss of the redundancy). You could build your INS around these MEMS sensors but a flight certified civilian INS would be far better. Again, so long as it is shielded from EM, the INS is going to be accurate enough to get the aircraft out of dodge and back into friendly skies. You could further improve reliability by including a rad altimeter, etc but you likely don't want to be using anything "active" if you're trying to stay stealthy. I'm certain that these drones would include something like what I described making the loss of GPS and even command and control signals not a hull loss incident. There's also plenty of other passively collected forms of data that the aircraft can gather that may or may not be useful in a loss of GPS signal situation, eg radio DF and optical flow - but again, an INS and a simple air data system is really all that's required. I'd be truly shocked if all this wasn't already being done as these systems have been in civilian aircraft for a long time. The INS will eventually gain more error as more distance is covered but GPS jamming for example isn't something that is done or can be done in an area large enough for these inaccuracies to become an issue - and the moment they go out of the jammers sphere of influence comms and satnav would be re-established.

[@krishuntzeroable]

Any country can buy this. They bought their own and made it look like they downed it. Also, no signs of it being hit.

[@Tren365Rage]

You are claiming rebels paid 30m for a drone just so they could fake taking it down... You need to stop huffing the crack..

[@minerran]

buy what? General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers? No they can't. Its regulated by US Federal Law - International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Yes they could make an airframe that looks like a reaper and use off the shelf commercial UAV components to make a flyable aircraft.

[@chrisholder4978]

NO any country cannot buy this....

[@chrisholder4978]

are you known for making up nonsense?

[@jefffch]

Over 5000 have been recalled. Propellers were not torqued to spec.

[@vonries]

For me it's all about the children. Never forget all of the Russians who abused children and their families in Ukraine. From the mass graves (in Izium) to the stolen children. Now if Ukrainian parents don't become Russian citizens and go to flight against their brothers and cousins Russia will take their newborn children at birth. Speaking of Izium. What did those 414 people see? The Russians thought it was better to murder them and bury them all in a mass grave instead of letting them testify. Whatever they saw must have been truly horrific. At minimum I'm guessing rape and torture. If Russia want's to sign😅 a treaty they must first prove they will stand by one. If Russia wants to negotiate, start with your original written agreement. Pull back all of their troops back behind their original boarder and then you can start negotiations. If they don't show they will honor the original agreement how can you expect them to honor any further agreements. It's our war to lose. Russia can NOT win. Unless we choose to not support Ukraine of course. It is on us in the global West to pick the world we want to live in. Choose wisely. Thanks. Glory to Ukraine. God Bless Ukraine and her people. 🇺🇦🇺🇸

[@johanwallin728]

Very interesting report. Thanks for high quality content!

[@Gunsncarsnstuff]

Jamming a gps signal won’t cause a drone to crash. It might cause it to auto abort the mission, but not to belly flop in the desert.

[@Hugais01]

Correction they downed six reapers and hit the US Eisenhower which is currently docked in Saudi ports getting repairs to the deck. This information is not making its way to mainstream for obvious reasons.

[@bhhvvbvgyvbuvv]

I feel like this drone could be manufactured for far far less than 30 million. The ceo of this company needs to be investigated. Every dod contractor needs to be investigated for the legitimacy of the price tag. Lockheed martin charges us 60k for a bag of bushings you can get at home depot for $30

[@Nordy941]

Electronic warfare is often forgotten/underestimated by observers.

[@khaldunalhakeem]

Iranians captured the "Beast of Kandahar " in 2014. That's a stealth drone! In 2014! They landed it safely and reverse engineered it.

[@fahedal-ajmi4015]

My father many years back told me that Yamni mechanics in the 50s were dismantled Ford and GMC engines, fixed them and put them, that was a time when the whole Arabia including Yemen didn't have a single technical college! Don't underestimate the enginuety of the Yemeni.

[@earthqwest]

Already shipped to Iran, China, Russia, North Korea, Afghanistan,....and the list goes on,

[@Clbhrdwck]

You do an awesome job, I've thought about just buying the gum even though I don't chew gum or drink energy drinks really… but I do sub to your website, great content and analysis

[@anthonybrown4874]

US are giving the Iranians opportunities to test their missile and countermeasure technology but strangely the US would drop a precision munition on it the first moment they could call in a strike.

[@allex2451]

The military complex overprices all American military equipment. 30 millions for a so easy target?

[@yeahright4659]

I have a question for this "veteran": How's that trap going over at Avdiivka?

[@DouglasASean]

It’s also possible that the drones are failing on their own or by some failure of procedure by the operating force.

[@bkm83442]

The reaper drones are slow and don't maneuver easily. They are not stealthy. Shooting one down is like shooting down a crop duster.

[@petrbohacek]

Unmarked drones = plausible deniability.