What did the Americans retouch in the pictures of the Tonopah test site?
In the microblog @o_gilvi Twitter photos of Google Maps appeared, showing signs of using a graphical editor. The pictures show the airfield of the US Army Tonopan test site. This is part of the secret test site in the state of Nevada.
There were suggestions that in this way the Pentagon decided to retouch images of stealthdrone RQ-170 Sentinel, made according to the "flying wing" scheme. However, if you are guided by the scale in the photo, then the object that was captured from the satellite is significantly larger. In particular, this object has a larger wingspan. And if we were talking specifically about the RQ-170 Sentinel, then retouching would hardly have been applied in the USA, since this unmanned aerial vehicle has been in operation for more than 10 years. Although this UAV is still positioned as a secret one, there is practically no data on its characteristics in the public domain, except for the dimensions of the "product".
It is worth noting that the very fact of "secrecy" in relation specifically to the RQ-170 Sentinel remains in question, if only for the simple reason that in 2011 the Iranian media published reports (and photos) about the interception of this drone. Then Iran reported that an American drone had a GPS vulnerability - in particular, a vulnerability in determining the flight altitude. The Iranians said that they had replaced the original drone signal, and that (UAV) allegedly "identified" the territory of Iran as the territory of Afghanistan, where it was sent to carry out the mission. The result was a hard landing. The Iranians collected the "gift" and subjected it to scrutiny.
Then it was a complete failure of the American operation, taking into account the fact that Tehran gained access to a whole range of US technologies.
After that, fragmentary information about the beginning of work on a program to improve the on-board systems of this drone began to come from the United States. In addition, data was voiced and some changes in its aerodynamic parameters. Therefore, it can be assumed that at the airfield Tonop are being tested a new generation of these UAVs - taking into account their "bitter" experience associated with the abnormal landing in Iran.
There were suggestions that in this way the Pentagon decided to retouch images of stealthdrone RQ-170 Sentinel, made according to the "flying wing" scheme. However, if you are guided by the scale in the photo, then the object that was captured from the satellite is significantly larger. In particular, this object has a larger wingspan. And if we were talking specifically about the RQ-170 Sentinel, then retouching would hardly have been applied in the USA, since this unmanned aerial vehicle has been in operation for more than 10 years. Although this UAV is still positioned as a secret one, there is practically no data on its characteristics in the public domain, except for the dimensions of the "product".
It is worth noting that the very fact of "secrecy" in relation specifically to the RQ-170 Sentinel remains in question, if only for the simple reason that in 2011 the Iranian media published reports (and photos) about the interception of this drone. Then Iran reported that an American drone had a GPS vulnerability - in particular, a vulnerability in determining the flight altitude. The Iranians said that they had replaced the original drone signal, and that (UAV) allegedly "identified" the territory of Iran as the territory of Afghanistan, where it was sent to carry out the mission. The result was a hard landing. The Iranians collected the "gift" and subjected it to scrutiny.
Then it was a complete failure of the American operation, taking into account the fact that Tehran gained access to a whole range of US technologies.
After that, fragmentary information about the beginning of work on a program to improve the on-board systems of this drone began to come from the United States. In addition, data was voiced and some changes in its aerodynamic parameters. Therefore, it can be assumed that at the airfield Tonop are being tested a new generation of these UAVs - taking into account their "bitter" experience associated with the abnormal landing in Iran.
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