An Iranian military commander boasted on Monday that Iran had gained access to all the encrypted information held aboard the US remotely piloted aircraft that Iran recovered on its territory last December, reported ABC News. “We know each and every step it has taken,” said Iranian Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the aerospace division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, according to the Dec. 10 report, which cites Iranian news services. He also said data taken from the aircraft—believed to be a Lockheed Martin-built RQ-170 Sentinel—revealed that the information-gathering platform had not been spying on Iranian nuclear facilities. At the time of the RPA’s loss, American officials said it had been operating over Afghanistan when operators lost control. The Iranians claimed that they brought down the aircraft with electronic warfare and jamming, something the Pentagon has disputed.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.