Iran said Sunday that it created a replica of a United States drone that the country captured in December 2011, and that it will soon take a test flight. 

According to The Guardian, state television stations broadcasted the image of the drone replica. 

Iran captured the U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel while it was on a mission to spy on Iran's nuclear sites. 

At the time of capture, the White House blamed the loss of the drone on a technical issue that caused the drone to lose control. However, Iran says it willfully took down the drone by electronically hacking into its GPS system. 

Military officials in the United States brushed the incident aside, claiming Iran did not have the technology to hack into the system. President Obama also urged the Islamic country to return the drone. 

Joe Lieberman, who was then the chairman of the Senate homeland security committee, condemned the drone's capture but played down Iran's capabilities. 

"It was not good for the US when the drone went down in Iran, and not good when the Iranians grabbed it. [But] I don't have confidence at this point that they are really able to make a copy of it," he said. 

"It's a very sophisticated piece of machinery and has served our national security well, including, I would guess, being used to look all over Iran, particularly at areas where we have reason to believe that they are working on a nuclear weapon," he added. 

On Sunday, an Iranian officer credited engineers with breaking into the drone's system.

"Our engineers succeeded in breaking the drone's secrets and copying them. It will soon take a test flight," the officer said. 

Iran has been actively working to develop its own drone program, with some of its unmanned aircraft armed with missiles and having a range of hundreds of miles. 

Iran's state television stations also displayed images that had allegedly been recorded by an Iranian drone of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. The photos showed American personnel working on helicopters and planes on the vessel. 

The television footage also showed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's visit to an exhibition about Iran's military advances, including missiles and drones, that was organized by the Revolutionary Guard's air wing. 

Footage showed two aircrafts that were almost identical as evidence that they coped the U.S. drone. 

Khamenei commented on the drone while standing in front of it at the exhibition. 

"This drone is very important for reconnaissance missions," Khamenei said.