Iraqis Reject Deadly Drone Claim by U.S. Mar 12, 8:12 AM (ET) By NIKO PRICE AL-TAJI, Iraq (AP) - A remotely piloted aircraft that the United States has warned could spread chemical weapons appears to be made of balsa wood and duct tape, with two small propellors attached to what look like the engines of a weed whacker. Iraqi officials took journalists to the Ibn Firnas State Company just north of Baghdad on Wednesday, where the drone's project director accused Secretary of State Colin Powell of misleading the U.N. Security Council and the public. "He's making a big mistake," said Brig. Imad Abdul Latif. "He knows very well that this aircraft is not used for what he said." In Washington's search for a "smoking gun" that would prove Iraq is not disarming, Powell has insisted the drone, which has a wingspan of 24.5 feet, could be fitted to dispense chemical and biological weapons. He has said it "should be of concern to everybody." The drone's white fuselage was emblazoned Wednesday with the words "God is great" and the code "Quds-10." Its balsa wood wings were held together with duct tape. Officials said they referred to the remotely piloted vehicle as the RPV-30A. Latif said the plane is controlled by the naked eye from the ground. Asked whether its range is above the 93-mile limit imposed by the United Nations, he said it couldn't be controlled from more than five miles. Latif said the exact range will be determined when the drone passes to the next testing stage. Ibn Firnas' general director, Gen. Ibrahim Hussein disputed assertions by Powell and White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer that the drone was capable of dispensing biological and chemical weapons. "This RPV is to be used for reconnaissance, jamming and aerial photography," he said. "We have never thought of any other use." The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, complained this weekend that chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix didn't mention the drone in his oral presentation to the Security Council on Friday. Blix mentioned the drone in a 173-page written list of outstanding questions about Iraq's weapons programs last week. While small, Blix said, drones can be used to spray biological warfare agents such as anthrax. He said the drone hadn't been declared by Iraq to inspectors. But Iraq insisted it declared the drone in a report in January - and Hussein held up its declaration to prove it. The confusion, he said, was the result of a typo: The declaration said the wingspan was 14.5 feet instead of 24.5 feet as stated by Powell. "When we discovered the mistake we addressed an official letter correcting the wingspan," he said. He showed that letter to reporters as well. He suggested inspectors had already seen the drone when the correction was made, but said: "No one of the inspectors noticed the difference." "We are really astonished when we hear that this RPV was discovered by inspectors, when it was declared by Iraq," Hussein said. "Nothing is hidden." Hiro Ueki, spokesman for the U.N. weapons inspectors, said the United Nations was investigating the drone's capabilities, and said he was unsure whether Iraq reported the drone before inspectors found it on an airfield or after. Iraq seized on the issue of the drone - along with early reports from Washington that Iraqi fighter jets threatened a U.N.-sponsored U-2 reconnaissance plane on Tuesday - as proof that Washington is trying to mislead the world about Iraq's weapons programs in its push for war. "You can imagine the exaggerations the Americans are capable of," said Maj. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison with U.N. weapons inspectors. The United States has been searching for a way out of an impasse created by its demand that Baghdad be given an ultimatum to disarm or face war, which has so far failed to gather enough support in the Security Council. Amin said the United Nations advised Iraq of one U-2 flight Tuesday, but that two U-2s entered Iraq's airspace. Multiple flights are permitted under a U.N. Security Council resolution approved last November, but the United Nations agreed to inform Iraq in advance. U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Iraq launched fighter jets, which threatened one of the planes. Amin disputed that, saying the jets "did not take any measures." Iraqi workers in al-Taji, meanwhile, were destroying three more Al Samoud 2 missiles Wednesday, banned by the United Nations because they can fly farther than allowed, and two trucks full of components for the missile, said Odai al-Taie, a senior Information Ministry official. Before Wednesday's destruction, Iraq had destroyed 55 of its approximately 100 missiles, as well as 28 warheads, two casting chambers, two launchers and five engines - all associated with the Al Samoud 2 program. Tools and computer software used for launching have also been destroyed.
A-ha! Now that's a weapon to fear, my friends. And I have been telling you that the terrorists were linked to duct tape this whole time!
oh..well that explains it...i mean, they never intended for it to be used that way. ok...no big deal then, saddam. carry on. no big deal you didn't disclose this despite the fact the inspectors say you should have. i trust saddam a lot more than i trust the inspectors and that pesky colin powell.
i am constantly amazed at how quickly some are to disbelieve our administration and put stock in the words of a tyrant. you guys sniff out conspiracy theories at every turn....it's all about oil...we're fabricating evidence...the americans are lying...but you'll take the words of these guys at face value. just amazing to me.
Much crappier, actually. Decent models avoid balsa wood, to say nothing of the ubiquitous duct tape. Edit: dude, Madmax, who has said anything in this thread about believing the Iraqis? Of course they lie. But look at this. That plane looks like crap and it's made of balsa wood. I've been cracking wise about this whole drone thing from square one. It's not an issue of whom I believe; it's just freaking funny to me.
You mean all this time wasted with troops and inspections and all we had to do was ask Iraq if they had WMD? Damn! Send everybody home! Iraq says they don't have it!
I would have to say that the US credibility wrt Iraq is now in serious question, with all of the lies that have trotted out. BTW, reporters were taken to see the damn thing. Dou you question the reporter's words and pictures? BTW2, I only posted this article to see if more pictures of American drones would get posted
I agree, of course they lie. I would never believe anything they say. I'm just saying that that plane doesn't really look very dangerous. I'm sure they have other stuff that is way more dangerous.
you're a great guy, b-bob...i'd love to hang out with you...catch a beer..watch the rockets beat the hell out of whoever they're playing...but i'm gonna listen to the weapons inspector's views on the capabilities of these things with a more attentive ear than i would to you...sorry!
How can I refuse the invitation? Iraqi child genius and evil scientist Biodeath Akbar poses with a failed prototype of the Death Drone 3. Madmax: no problem! and back at you, by the way.
no..you should always question your government...but the idea that these iraqi guys are being truthful is even more in question...the burden is on them to tell the truth here..to bring forth evidence..to cooperate and then some. and they've failed.
Well it certainly looks like it is not the "smoking gun" that our government claimed it to be. Now the question is.... Is it banned under the 1991 agreement that they signed, if so, it is another material breach. DD
How much "reconnaissance" is this thing going to do if it is controlled by the naked eye from the ground? If that's the kind of technology they have, why don't we just go in there, polish off saddam and be back in time to play the back nine before sunset. Is this really the drone that the weapons inspectors noted in their report?
How do we know that this is the drone the US was talking about? This picture is posted under a German domain name. Last I checked, they were against the US. Wouldn't they have their own spin to the story? I know this is far-fetched.........but isn't it possible that Iraq has more than one drone/model airplane in the whole of their country?
but i'm gonna listen to the weapons inspector's views on the capabilities of these things with a more attentive ear than i would to you...sorry! But the weapons inspectors did not make note of it very much. Remember, people here were bashing Blix and questioning his motives when it came out that he didn't declare this a major violation in his oral report and only mentioned it as a minor point in the larger document.
Pole, My excellent photo-documentation alone has shown you that Iraq has more than one drone/model airplane. The country is not that poor.
I'm not buying this story. I think the drone Blix mentions is more substantial than balsa wood and duct tape. On the other hand, this does not look like new news. The drone (or at least a drone) is mentioned in the following 2001 report and my guess is that it was also mentioned in the 800+ pages of the Iraqi report withheld from the UN. Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, 1 January Through 30 June 2001 http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/bian_jan_2002.htm#4
Everything I have seen in regards to UN weapons inspections in Iraq is the usage of the metric system. Very doubtful that Iraq declared this particular item using a differing measuring system. Thus the <i>typo</i> part about the nondeclaration of this drone is <b>dubious</b>. <b>When did Powell state the wingspan as 24.5 feet? </b> When Powell made his presentation to the UN after the latest Blix report, he didn't have the complete document. <a HREF="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-603370,00.html">Iraqi drone 'could drop chemicals on troops'</a> <i> A REPORT declassified by the United Nations yesterday contained a hidden bombshell with the revelation that inspectors have recently discovered an undeclared Iraqi drone with a wingspan of 7.45m, suggesting an illegal range that could threaten Iraq’s neighbours with chemical and biological weapons. US officials were outraged that Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, did not inform the Security Council about the drone, or remotely piloted vehicle, in his oral presentation to Foreign Ministers and tried to bury it in a 173-page single-spaced report distributed later in the day. The omission raised serious questions about Dr Blix’s objectivity. “Recent inspections have also revealed the existence of a drone with a wingspan of 7.45m that has not been declared by Iraq,” the report said. “Officials at the inspection site stated that the drone had been test-flown. Further investigation is required to establish the actual specifications and capabilities of these RPV drones . . . (they) are restricted by the same UN rules as missiles, which limit their range to 150km (92.6 miles). Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, told the Security Council in February that Washington had evidence that Iraq had test-flown a drone in a race-track pattern for 500km non-stop. In another section of the declassified report, the inspectors give warning that Iraq still has spraying devices and drop tanks that could be used in dispersing chemical and biological agents from aircraft. “A large number of drop tanks of various types, both imported and locally manufactured, are available and could be modified,” it says. The paper, obtained by The Times, details the possible chemical and biological arsenal that British and US Forces could face in an invasion of Iraq. The paper suggests that Iraq has huge stockpiles of anthrax, may be developing long-range missiles and could possess chemical and biological R400 aerial bombs and Scud missiles, and even smallpox. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, told his fellow Security Council Foreign Ministers that the document was a“chilling read”. <b> General Powell resorted to reading passages from the paper out loud in the Council chamber. He pointed out that it chronicled nearly 30 times when Iraq had failed to provide credible evidence to substantiate its claims, and 17 instances when inspectors uncovered evidence that contradicted those claims. But his draft copy, dating from a meeting of the inspectors’ advisory board last week, did not contain the crucial passage about the new drone. </b> The decision by Dr Blix to declassify the internal report marks the first time the UN has made public its suspicions about Iraq’s banned weapons programmes, rather than what it has been able to actually confirm. “Unmovic has credible information that the total quantity of biological warfare agent in bombs, warheads and in bulk at the time of the Gulf War was 7,000 litres more than declared by Iraq. This additional agent was most likely all anthrax,” it says. The report says there is “credible information” indicating that 21,000 litres of biological warfare agent, including some 10,000 litres of anthrax, was stored in bulk at locations around the country during the war and was never destroyed. The paper, a collection of 29 “clusters” of questions for Iraq, offers some reassurance about Iraq’s missing botulinum toxin, which Unmovic believed is “unlikely to retain much, if any, of its potency” if it has been stockpiled since 1991. </i> <a HREF="http://www.msnbc.com/news/883663.asp?0sl=-23">Iraq drone scrapped after U.N. check</a> <i>INSPECTORS FROM the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) first discovered the remote piloted vehicle, or RPV, at the Samarra East flight-test facility north of Baghdad in mid-February, officials said. With a wingspan of almost 25 feet, the RPV could have a range far in excess of the 150 kilometers (93 miles) allowed by U.N. regulations. The inspectors raised questions about the drone last Tuesday when they visited the Ibn Fernas Center in northern Baghdad, where RPVs and other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are developed and produced. When they returned to the flight-test site the next day for another look at the large drone, they found two such RPVs — and found the Iraqis dismantling one of them, as well as two smaller RPVs, according to a senior administration official. “They apparently did not expect the inspectors,” the official said. Under the November U.N. resolution, Iraq was required to declare UAV and RPV aircraft because Baghdad had experimented with them in the 1980s and 1990s as delivery vehicles for chemical or biological agents. The RPV being dismantled had been fabricated from the fuel tank of one of those vehicles, an L-29 Czech-made small airplane. Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, reported Friday to the Security Council that his inspectors had raised questions with Iraq about its unmanned aircraft. But U.S. officials yesterday took public issue with his failure to disclose the problem encountered last week, calling it an example of Iraq’s refusal to cooperate and disarm. In a closed Security Council meeting yesterday, Blix defended his handling of the issue, saying he does not report on all new findings by inspectors. Although the newly designed RPV should have been declared, he said, it was not certain it would be proscribed since it still may be just a “prototype.” The first public indication of the new RPV came yesterday when UNMOVIC put on its Web site the 173-page document Blix gave privately to Security Council members last Friday, which was entitled “Unresolved Disarmament Issues, Iraq’s Proscribed Weapons Programs.” In that document, Blix outlined dozens of other unresolved issues involving Iraq’s weapons, and possible ways the Baghdad government could solve outstanding issues. Iraq considered RPVs as potential delivery vehicles for biological warfare agents as early as 1988, but the idea was rejected at the time because it was believed the drones could not carry enough of the agent to be effective. Hussein Kamal, the son-in-law of Saddam Hussein who defected from Baghdad in 1995, told U.N. inspectors and U.S. interrogators that he had looked at long-range RPVs as a way to slowly distribute chemical or biological agents on Israel. In its Dec. 7 declaration to the U.N. of its weapons of mass destruction, Iraq reported it had developed two RPVs that could fly only up to an hour. More recently, it discovered another RPV that was not declared with a 25-foot wingspan, which inspectors were told had been test-flown. ‘CREDIBLE EVIDENCE’ In its recent document, UNMOVIC said Iraq should provide “credible evidence” for the purposes of the RPVs. That includes names of the Iraqis who worked on them and foreign suppliers involved in the project, along with details of importation of the engines, guidance systems and airframes. That information, the document says, could assist in determining whether Iraq plans to make the RPVs “capable of carrying chemical or biological agents.”</i> <a HREF="http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/documents/6marcluster.pdf">UNMOVIC Working document 6 March 2003</a> <i>........However, it has declared that it developed during the past few years, two new RPVs with a range of 100 kilometres (see below). The stated design goal for one of the RPV’s, designated by Iraq as “RPV-20”, was to create a drone with an endurance of one hour that had an autonomous system for guidance and control with GPS navigation. Recent inspections have also revealed the existence of a drone with a wingspan of 7.45 metres that has not been declared by Iraq. Officials at the inspection site stated that the drone had been test flown. Further investigation is required to establish the actual specifications and capabilities of these RPV’s and whether Iraq has UAV/RPVs that exceed the 150 kilometers limit........... .........Iraq also declared two new remote piloted vehicle (RPV) known as Musaryara 20 and 30 with a declared range of 100 kilometres............ </i> Seems like the RPV-30A is the Musaryara 30. If it is one of the declared drones,<b> then they did declare a range for it</b>. If it isn't the Musaraya 30, then it is an undeclared drone. The UNMOVIC report mentions the two declared drones and an additional undeclared drone.
