Did Iranian Drone, Shot Down by Israel, Include Technology From US Drone Captured Last Year?

The Israeli Defense Forces initially played down the intrusion of an Iranian-made drone in Israeli airspace last week. Now it turns out, not only did the drone transmit intelligence back to Iran, it also evaded several efforts by an IDF F-16 to shoot it down.

The New York Post revealed these details earlier today:

A drone plane transmitted live pictures of secret Israeli military bases back to Iran’s military, marking a rare breach of Israeli airspace and a new kind of arms race in the Middle East.

The drone, launched by Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Oct. 6, is also believed to have transmitted pictures of preparations for a joint Israel-US military exercise, ballistic missile sites, and possibly Israel’s top-secret nuclear reactor near Dimona.

The three-hour drone flight was initially downplayed by Israeli officials red-faced over the shocking breach of their airspace.

Even the drone’s ultimate interception by an F-16 jet was botched — it took two tries for the pilot to down the unmanned plane.

An Israeli defense source blamed the drone’s infiltration on its “unfamiliar stealth elements.”

After finding out that an Iranian drone, with presumably homemade technology, avoided one of the world’s most advanced military’s radar, antiaircraft, and fighter jet capabilities for hours, some are wondering if the drone capitalized on some of the technology harvested from the U.S. drone captured by Iran last year.