Navy Denies Iran’s Claim of Captured Drone

Mark Phelps

Tuesday, December 04, 2012 at 11:17 PM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Iran claims to have captured a U.S. ScanEagle surveillance drone, showing video evidence, but the U.S. Navy denies this, stating all its drones in the Persian Gulf are accounted for.
The U.S. Navy acknowledges historical drone losses but asserts no recent incidents, suggesting the drone could belong to another country or have been recovered earlier.
The incident occurs amid escalating U.S.-Iran tensions and follows previous drone disputes, including Iran's capture of a CIA RQ-170 drone in 2011, with both sides disputing airspace violations.

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The U.S. Navy reports that all of its Boeing-designed ScanEagle unmanned surveillance aircraft are “fully accounted for” in the Persian Gulf region. Iran claimed earlier today it had captured one of the drones, with video appearing on the state television station showing Iranians examining what appears to be a ScanEagle.

There are other countries in the region operating ScanEagles, including the United Arab Emirates. In an AP report, the Navy also acknowledges that some of the shipborne drones have been lost at sea over the years, but “there is no record of that occurring most recently,” according to Commander Jason Salata, a spokesman for the 5th Fleet in Bahrain.