[MikeJ]

Reading it, I think they know it was a UAV, but the AF didn't fess up.

Perhaps I misread it, but it looked to me like the mystery red paint did not match the UAV sample they mentioned.

Some sort of UAV is nontheless an obvious candidate. Whatever it was, it was heavy, painted, and hanging out at 3000 feet. Space junk seems unlikely, because it would have had to be massive enough to cause all that damage, yet not hot enough to be noticed at night (or burn away its paint). It was also small enough (or stealthy enough) to be invisible to radar.

Personally, I wouldn't expect much red paint on a US military UAV...

[Lokibob]

I tend to agree, but my suspicion was based on the fact that they sent the sample to Wright Patterson AFB (I know, the UFO center) but also the UAV development center.

I wasn't sure where the cargo bag came from. I read it as a Predator cargo bag.

I'm not a UFO person, however, by defination, this was a UFO. They cant ID it, it was flying, and an object it was.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Some sort of UAV is nontheless an obvious candidate.

What is an "UAV"? Unmanned Aviation Vehicle?

[null and void]

Personally, I wouldn't expect much red paint on a US military UAV...

Target drones are routinely painted red.

Protoypes are painted "ten mile orange" for the same reason black boxes are orange - it makes the easier to recover when something goes wrong...

[New Perspective]

UAV's in Alabama.
http://www.neural-robotics.com