Is it time for the USAF to re-think its major acquisition plans?

摘要

WHEN A HUSH-HUSH RQ-170 reconnaissance drone went down in Iran in December, US officials had to say something. Did Iran use high-tech cyber warfare to defeat the super-secret aircraft and bring it to earth? Or was the RQ-170 lost because of a technical problem? Officials chose the latter explanation. Speaking anonymously, Washington bigwigs said it was a malfunction. In a blunder of infuriating proportions, one of America's most secretive aircraft, flying a mission known in advance to be fraught with political peril, fell from the sky because it wasn't working properly. No-one has been held to account.