By Greg Miller, Washington Post, Dec. 5, 2011
The unmanned surveillance plane lost by the United States in Iran was a stealth aircraft being used for secret missions by the CIA, U.S. officials said Monday.
The officials said Iran’s military appears to be in possession of one of the more sensitive surveillance platforms in the CIA’s fleet, an aircraft that was shaped and designed to evade enemy defenses. [.....]
The RQ-170 has been used by the CIA for highly sensitive missions into other nations’ airspace, including months of surveillance of the compound in Pakistan in which Osama bin Laden was hiding before he was killed in a May raid by Special Operations forces. [.....]
Also see:
What could Iran learn from the "Beast of Kandahar"?
By Joshua Keating, Passport @ ForeignPolicy.com, December 5, 2011
[....] The top-secret RQ-170, which reportedly played a role in monitoring Osama bin Laden's compound, was nicknamed the "Beast of Kandahar" by Aviation Week editor Bill Sweetman when photos of it first emerged in the media in 2009. There are unconfirmed reports that the drone has been regularly used over Iran monitoring the country's nuclear program. I spoke briefly with Sweetman today about the significance of the drone, which he says may already be obsolete: [....]
And:
Did Iran Capture a U.S. Stealth Drone Intact?
By David Axe, Danger Room @ wired.com, Dec. 4, 2011
