bill sweetman thinks it's real. the drone wasn't shot down and could have glided to earth in what sweetman calls a falling leaf descent. >> and so, you know, you would see in that case fairly limited damage. >> reporter: global security.org analyst john pike calls what iran showed off nothing more than a parade float. he says, the wings here droop down, whereas in most pictures of the sentinel, the wings are positioned higher for better stability. the bigger question, what was the drone doing when it crashed? a u.s. official says it was a cia mission, strictly to search for them in afghanistan. they point out it's a staelts drone designed to penetrate areas with defenses. it's hard to believe the drone was strictly operating over afghanistan which has none. >> so it could have been used in iran, it could have been deliberately used in iran, it's very likely, in fact, that it was a reconnaissance platform of choice to do precisely that. >> reporter: a u.s. official says satellite footage shows the drone's wreckage to

bill sweetman thinks it's real. the drone was not shot down and could have glided to earth in what he calls a falling leaf descent. >> and, so, you know, in that case, you can see fairly limited damage. >> global security.org analyst john pike calls what iran shows off nothing more than a parade float. he says that the wings here group down whereas in the pictures of the sentinel, the wings are positioned higher for better stability. the bigger question, what was the drone doing when it crashed? a u.s. official says it was a cia mission, strictly to search for insurgents in afghanistan near the border. but several sources point out the sentinel is a stealth drone designed to penetrate areas with air defenses. they say it's hard to believe that the drone was strictly operating over afghanistan which has none. >> so it could have been used in iran. it could have been deliberately used in iran and it's very likely, in fact, that it was a reconaissance platform of choice to do precisely that. >> reporter: a u.s. officia

. >> aviation expert bill sweetman says the drone likely came down in a flat spin in what he calls ait would hit the ground, not a lot of vertical acceleration, maybe just some rotation. so you'd see in that case, fairly limited damage. >> earlier this week, a u.s. official told cnn the drone was part of a cia mission, but it was strictly to look for insurgent os on the ask side of the border. sours point out it is a stealth drone designed to operate in areas like iran with air defenses that could identify and shoot down commonly used drones like a reaper or predator. they say it's hard to believe the drone was strictly operating over afghanistan. >> there would be really no reason to. why would you? we control the air space there. >> so, it could have been used in iran. could have been deliberately used in iran and it's very likely that it was a reconnaissance flat form of choice to do precisely that. >> we have since spoken with several sources who have pushed back on the validity of the claim. we just don't know what is it is in that video, if it is the true drone. and an aviation