Posted on 02/10/2017 4:35:46 AM PST by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA - The Shadow RQ-7Bv2 unmanned aircraft which lost connectivity with the ground station here Jan. 31 was found today by a hiker in the mountains west of Evergreen, Colorado.
No one was injured, but the aircraft has sustained damage.
Soldiers from Fort Carson, Colorado, along with Clear Creek County and Jefferson County, Colorado, Sheriff Departments are currently assisting with security and recovery efforts.
Search efforts were aided by the National Radar Forensics Team at 1st Air Force's Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, which specializes in tracking lost and/or downed aircraft. The team was able to reconstruct the aircraft's flight profile from start to finish by leveraging data from multiple radar returns simultaneously determining course and approximate airspeed and altitude.
The unmanned aircraft was part of a training mission being conducted at Fort Huachuca by the 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion of the 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
The Shadow RQ-7Bv2 is a rapidly deployable, short-range airborne reconnaissance system designed to give the battlefield commander a day/night, multi-sensor collection system. The aircraft has an endurance of eight to nine hours and can fly a distance of 125 kilometers. It weighs 450 pounds, has a wingspan of 20 feet and a fuel capacity of 58 liters. he Shadow has an estimated value of $1.5 million.
An investigation to determine why the Shadow lost connectivity with its ground station continues.
No transponder on the aircraft?
Now there's some brilliant writing! /S
This could have been made for between $2,000 - $5,000. And would have had better safeguards.
But the craft was found by a hiker. Sometimes less should be said about those helping in the search.
It's a lot more than 125 kilometers from south Arizona to central Colorado.
One Of Our Skynets Is Missing
“The “aircraft” is a glorified RC model.”
I think battlefield technology is moving towards smaller and more numerous swarm type weapons. When they can kill you, they aren’t toys.
One reason the Army has been trying to move away from the awesome Abrams tank is its greatest vulnerability, a logistics train full of unarmored fuel trucks that can be taken out by toys.
So a 1.5 million dollar RC aircraft with a day/night, multi-sensor collection system (without a transponder) is just a throw-away toy these days I guess.
No kidding. That’s more like 1,200 kilometers.
Controlable range?
Public school kids .... English words and vocabulary but no comprehension.
It IS the bane of our time.
Consider this ... if they become parents, they will speak to their children in gobbledegook English.
The kids will have a head start in public school
Just curious, where did you get south Arizona out of the article?
The article stated that the drone was being flown at Fort Huachuca which is located in southern Arizona. As for the 125KM range, that is the data link range to the ground station. The drone lost that link and went rouge and ended up in Colorado.
The article was datelined from Huachuca in AZ. The launch could have been from Carson in CO. Since the article doesn’t state the launch, I’m guessing that it was operating out of Carson.
But the article says “The unmanned aircraft was part of a training mission being conducted at Fort Huachuca...”
That makes sense- 125km controllable range. Otherwise it just keeps going straight. It can fly for 9 hours on the fuel it carries so it’s not inconceivable it made it to Colorado.
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