Catching one of such aircrafts of the US Air Force fleet isn't anyway smaller than hacking a supercomputer. In a US acknowledged report, Iran has made an audacious catch in the form of RQ-170 Sentinel Drone, which was found flying over the eastern town of Kashmar, Iran. RQ-170 is an unmanned remotely controlled aircraft which has haunted the Afghan valley for a long time due to its infamous covert operations in the terror fed region. In fact it has been nicknamed as The Beast of Kandahar for its prolific use in Operation Enduring Freedom, wherein it recorded tremendous success.
There are varying claims as to how this Drone fell into Iranian hands. Whereas Iran is obviously claiming it to be a success of its Drone technology, US has asserted it to be a technological glitch. On another obvious note; neither US nor Iran is ready to disclose the exact tactic or glitch which caused it.
In the backdrop of this event, there is a longstanding and widening rift between US and Iran. The propped issues have brought them very close to a warlike situation now. Inter alia Iran's non compliance of Article 2 of NPT is the core issue which has gone clear with the 8th November IAEA Report on Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in Iran. The report has shown Iran on a structured path to development of nuclear weapons. Iran's persistent denials for nuclear arms invigilation have added to the suspicion of its deviousness.
However, the swords are out to be jabbed anyway. Some testing times are approaching for both these countries. Whatever way it turns out, whomsoever pulls ahead, devastation on both sides will be huge. It won't be like Iraq or Afghanistan which didn't stand even a mere chance of striking back. US has very well anticipated this danger and has thus been treading a very safe track yet.
Back to the Drone catch now. I found a very interesting headline aired by various news networks yesterday. "Iran will not return the caught Drone". Tell me now, doesn't it seem apparent? Why the hell would a country return any spying device back? The device was being used for espionage, to take a sneaky peep into the activities of that country. How can it be given away just like that? Mostly such cases don't even get highlighted. Countries prefer to discuss such things on a round table. All of it found the spotlight just because of the hostile stance of both the nations and the opportunistic showcasing of Iran's technological edge, otherwise the countries had been bilaterally and confidentially discussing this incident. The only espionage convention made in consonance with the humanitarian spirits is the Geneva Convention, 1948 for Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts. It restricts inhumane approach towards the nabbed spies, but doesn't encompass the instruments and devices used for espionage anyway. So, there is absolutely no question or doubt about the nonsensicality of such speculations or expectations. Completely illogical.
There is a lot more to come from this incident. Iran's action is still awaited, which it has touted to be "bigger" than this drone infiltration. Though a move as big as it is claiming can't be expected watching the precedents, but undoubtedly the incident has already added zest to the existing strife; with the failure of CIA and Iran's growing stiffness and emboldened stand.
