Iran claims 'successfully' tested replica of US drone captured in 2011

Iran has reportedly said that it has successfully tested an Iranian version of a United States-made drone that it captured in 2011.

General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the aerospace division of the elite Revolutionary Guard, said on Monday that a test flight of the Iranian version of the RQ-170 was carried out earlier that day and a video will be released soon, reported The Washington Times.

Iran had displayed the drone earlier this year.

The nation said it had seized an American RQ-170 Sentinel in December 2011 after it entered Iranian airspace from neighbouring Afghanistan and managed to reverse-engineer it. It added that it's capable of launching its own production line for the unmanned aircraft.

 

Iran said it has captured several American drones in recent years including, a Boeing-designed ScanEagle and is developing its own version of the drone.