In early December, Iran claimed to have shot down a U.S. unmanned aircraft, specifically the "Beast of Kandahar," the nickname of the Lockheed Martin RQ-170, a secretive UAS that earned its nickname by flying out of that Afghan city. Almost as soon as the claim was made, it was disputed, but news reports eventually revealed that the story is at least partly true: A UAS has gone missing, and Iran has it. NBC reported that a reconnaissance UAS had gone missing over western Afghanistan and apparently took a trip to Iran, where it went down. NBC and ABC reported that the beast was on a mission for the CIA. U.S. officials said whatever Iran has, the country's military had not shot it down, nor had they jammed its signals. Iran later displayed video of the vehicle, which did appear to be the RQ-170, and one in relatively good shape at that.
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