The American drone shot down in Iran belonged to the CIA, NBC reports, citing US officials.

As the channel's source notes, the RQ-170 Sentinel, which fell into the hands of the Iranian military, was carrying out a secret mission. It is not specified in which country the UAV carried out the mission - Iran or Afghanistan.

According to an NBC source, the device apparently escaped the control of American intelligence officers and headed deep into Iranian territory. When the fuel ran out, the drone crashed in a mountainous area in the east of the country. Earlier, Iranian media reported that the drone was shot down by Iranian military personnel, but this information was not confirmed in the United States.

American experts fear that along with the drone, secret technologies could fall into the hands of the Iranian military, including surveillance cameras, various sensors and direct “invisibility” technology, which allows the UAV to remain invisible to radar equipment. As previously reported, the device was received by the Iranian military with minimal damage.

According to NBC, a similar drone was used by US forces for several months in Pakistan to monitor the mansion where al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding before being killed by US Navy Special Forces.

For the first time, information that Iranian military personnel had obtained an American drone appeared on Sunday, December 4. However, exactly when the RQ-170 fell in the mountains of Iran is not specified. It was initially believed that the UAV could belong to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF).

The RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaissance unmanned vehicle was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been used by American security forces in Afghanistan since 2007. At the same time, until the end of 2009, the device was classified and the United States did not recognize its existence. The technical characteristics of the RQ-170 are also unknown. As The Washington Post notes, all that is known about the device is that its body has a special coating that allows it to avoid detection by radar devices.

The drone shot down in Iran belonged to the CIA