Iran annonces first successful drone flight

The Islamic Republic of Iran announced that they have completed the first successful flight of a military drone whose design was based off of a captured U.S. drone that crashed in Iran in 2011.

AFP reports that the Iranian government will release footage of the flight soon. The drone is modeled off of a U.S. RQ-170 that crashed in Dec. 2011 as it was presumably carrying out a spy mission on Iran's nuclear activities.

Iran's enrichment of uranium has made it a pariah in the international community that fears that Iran will try to weaponize the enriched uranium and make nuclear warheads. Iran has claimed that the uranium will only be used for civilian purposes, as it has various applications such as medicine.

The enrichment program is currently the focus of negotiations between Iran, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, the United States) and Germany.

AFP notes that Iran claimed it was able to hack the drone and force it to land, while the United States says that the drone suffered a technical failure and crashed.

RT reports that Iran has also captured drones from Israel, which is deeply concerned by Iran's nuclear program and often runs its own surveillance missions over Iran.

Reuters reports that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the successful flight made the day, "very sweet and unforgettable."

Iran is just the latest nation to add drones to its arsenal. The United States, China, United Kingdom, and Israel all boast drones as a part of their arsenal. Even North Korea and non-state actors such as Hezbollah and the Islamic State have begun to test drones and use them in the field for reconnaissance.