More from Iran on how it dronapped one of our top secret weapons.The Iranians seem quite appreciative of all the high tech gadgets they found on the drone. "According to the Iranian military official, the drone was "equipped with highly advanced surveillance, data gathering, electronic communication and radar systems," saying that "this kind of plane has been designed to evade radar systems and from the view point of technology it is amongst the most recent types of advanced aircraft used by the U.S."An Iranian military official described their technique in bringing intact to Iranian territory: "By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain."Why couldn't some boy whiz do the same?Latest news: A boy whiz could do it: From a report of the USAF Scientific Advisory Board:"There is a wide range of methods that a determined adversary can use for attacking RPA guidance and navigation systems. The report mentions here only three categories of threats without going into the details:

Small, simple GPS noise jammers can be easily constructed and employed by an unsophisticated adversary and would be effective over a limited RPA operating area. GPS repeaters are also available for corrupting navigation capabilities of RPAs. Cyber threats represent a major challenge for future RPA operations. Cyber attacks can affect both on-board and ground systems, and exploits may range from asymmetric CNO attacks to highly sophisticated electronic systems and software attacks."

Margaret O’Brien Steinfels is a former editor of Commonweal. 

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