may be a u.s. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western afghanistan late last week. the operators of the uav lost control of that aircraft and had been working to determine its status. all of this further heightening tensions between the u.s. and iran which are already strained over iran's apparent attempt to build nuclear weapons, bill. bill: based on what i understand, this is one of our better drones, is it not, steve? >> reporter: right. this is the latest technology. the rq-170 is plying from bases in afghanistan. the same aircraft was monitoring osama bin laden's raid on his compound in pakistan. it is basically a surveillance platform. it gathers pictures and other intelligence and presumed to be unarmed. the stealth technology uses special coatings and materials to make the aircraft hard to see on radar. the number of sentinels in the air force still a highly farred secret. bill: we'll wait for more clarification. thank you, steve centanni on the story out of washington.