Nick-named the Beast of Kandahar, the RQ-170 Sentinel is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Lockheed Martin for the Central Intelligence Agency. It is a stealth aircraft fitted with reconnaissance equipment.

In December 2011, Iranian armed forces captured an RQ-170 flying over their country possibly by exploiting a security flaw with the drone's GPS system. The U.S. military has acknowledged losing an RQ-170 in the region. The UAV shown on Iranian television appears to be the missing American drone. On 13 December 2011, United States news outlets reported that a formal request for Iran to return the UAV had been issued from the United States to Iran via Switzerland.