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.
Correction — controlled from Huachuca (in article), possibly launched from Carson (unspecified)
If the endurance is 8 hrs, and it can only fly 125 km, that’s only 15 km/h or about 9 mph ground speed? Even if the 125 is out and back range, that’s only 18 mph? The 125 limit has to be something to do with control range as you say.
Wow, a drone that changes color when it loses the link. I would have thought it would have been easier to be found with that color.
The article doesn’t say where the drone was launched. I’m guessing CO.
So it has an 1,100 kilometer control range? Not what the article says.
Now that’s funny! Should have waited for my 2nd cup of coffee before trying to type anything. Thanks for catching my spelling error.
Thanks, that makes more sense. It could easily have been launched from Arizona, lost contact with it’s ground station, then it’s onboard autopilot kept the aircraft on it’s last known heading until it ran out of fuel.
It has a top speed of 126MPH so speed * time = distance which would be ~1008 miles. Speed source here:
http://www.military.com/equipment/rq-7b-shadow
The article doesn’t say it has anywhere near an 1,100 km flight range either.
But it does say this “FORT HUACHUCA - The Shadow RQ-7Bv2 unmanned aircraft which lost connectivity with the ground station here...”
The Army had thought the drone had crashed and disintegrated in Arizona.DENVER - An Army drone that disappeared on a training flight in southern Arizona has been found hundreds of miles away in Colorado, and the military is trying to figure out how it got there.
Fort Huachuca/Sierra Vista.
Down on the AZ/Mex border.
They must have my Internet Provider.
Controlable distance is 125 km, 8 hrs. flight time doesn't mean in a straight line. They do back and forth scans of territory......
Well I reckon since there is no “How To Scrap a Shadow RQ-7Bv2 unmanned aircraft” on youtube, might as well give it back to the g0vt in hopes of a reward.
See the guys at the Las Vegas Pawn Stare Pawn shop.
“It has a top speed of 126MPH so speed * time = distance which would be ~1008 miles. “
European or African and was there are tailwind?
May I submit that how much the Army values something is poorly associated with its worth.
Oh, the hughmanitee! That is all we need now, rouge drones!
>http://www.9news.com/news/local/missing-military-drone-found-in-evergreen/406581039<
Update w better pic and track.
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