Iran on Wednesday said it had shot down two US-made RQ-11 reconnaissance drones in the past 15 months, adding to a ScanEagle drone and RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft it already claims to have captured.

“The army’s air defence shot down two… RQ-11 drones,” Rear Admiral Amir Rastegari told state television and Fars news agency, adding that the army was carrying out “research” on the downed unmanned aircraft.

He said the first had been brought down in Shahrivar 1390 (August-September 2011) and the second in Aban 1391 (October-November 2012), but gave no details of their location.

He did not offer proof for the claim.