How the Iranians Managed to Take Over a Secret American Spy Robot | Weekend Special

Iran took control of an American Dive-LD robotic submarine worth $2.5 million in the Strait of Hormuz after a critical malfunction. The Pentagon is concerned about reverse engineering of the hardware.

Iran managed to take over an American Dive-LD robotic submarine, worth $2.5 million, in the Strait of Hormuz. The submarine, six meters long and weighing three tons, is 3D-printed and carbon-based, capable of diving to a depth of 6,000 meters and operating for ten consecutive days. It failed due to a critical malfunction, lost communication, and drifted helplessly until the Iranians found it. U.S. Navy spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins acknowledged the malfunction. The Pentagon claims encryption keys and software were erased, but engineers are concerned about the hardware, as the submarine serves as a development platform for the Australian Ghost Shark. The article recalls the capture of the RQ-170 drone in 2011, which Iran reverse-engineered and used to establish a fleet of stealth drones.