Iran builds attack drone similar to captured US model, local media say

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have built a new attack drone which is similar to a US unmanned aerial vehicle that was captured five years ago, Iranian media reported on Saturday.The semi-official Tasnim news agency said the “Saegheh” (“Thunderbolt”) drone was similar to the RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone. The country’s state-run Press TV said the long-range drone could carry four precision-guided bombs. Neither report gave figures for the drone’s range.“This long-range drone is capable of hitting four targets with smart precision-guided bombs with high accuracy,” state news agency IRNA quoted the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace arm, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, as saying.Iran claimed to have shot down an RQ-170 drone used by the CIA in December 2011, broadcasting footage of the recovered aircraft. It also claims to have captured three American ScanEagle drones.Iran said last year that it had successfully tested its replica of the RQ-170.Also on Saturday, Tasnim published photos of what it said was a US-made MQ-1C drone captured recently by the Revolutionary Guard. It did not say when or how the drone was captured.