Originally posted by hadriana
Why is this in skunkworks?

I put this in the skunkworks section because I had no evidence or corroboration.

In any other section I would have had demands for pics (or it didn't happen), circuit diagrams showing where the thing was modified, videos interviews of the pilot, etc.

I thought about this since it appears to have been found pretty much intact. From what I have read that the drone came down in a "flat spin"... I don't know aeronautically how this could happen except from what I remember in seeing in "Top Gun". The glider shape could also figure in to why it came down in a flat spin. I read in another thread about the drone that someone commented that the wings looked "droopy". This could be from having an extended lenght wings to give added lift.

anyway I don't know but I could see a computer virus infecting their top research computers as they try to access the drones electonics or software which then sends out the data and then erases the system as it meltsdown the hardware......

Unfortunately, nothing is foolproof, and it looks like we just handed Iran and whoever they choose to share it with, a very nice Christmas present. Software and electronics can be easily destroyed remotely. However... By looking at the condition of the craft, it would obviously appear that any flight related systems would most likely still be intact. If they were destroyed, it would have crashed.

My fear of a potential scenario is that a virus could have been planted, that would not have given the hackers full control of the craft, but simply controlled one aspect of the craft's programing through a backdoor. Say for instance, the phone home feature that tells it what to do in the event of comm loss. Theoretically, a virus could be created to tell that part of the programing... 'OK, when this happens, don't do what they told you to do... do this instead'. ie: Don't return to this field in the event of lost comms, go to this field instead, then land.

Then it would just be a matter of waiting for the craft to hit that parameter where the virus kicks in and get lucky. I hope that it doesn't turn out that's what happened, because that would be highly damaging to UAV efforts in general.

I just read about Stuxnet today and it's pretty amazing. Theoretically, it's possible that the drone's computers contain a sophisticated virus. After all, Stuxnet (credits: Israel and USA) did manage to control Iran's centrifuges. The virus can be targeting embedded electronics.

I heard on the radio today that someone with some kind of inside info said that Obama had the option to get the drone back but gave the order to let Iran have it. The first thing I thought after hearing that was Trojan horse.

Originally posted by wardk28
I heard on the radio today that someone with some kind of inside info said that Obama had the option to get the drone back but gave the order to let Iran have it. The first thing I thought after hearing that was Trojan horse.

If "getting it back" involved a commando raid, that would explain his trepidations to actually try to get it back.