Air Force officials at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, on July 22 announced the crash of an MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle in the southern part of that country on July 21. There was no other information available. The service lost two Predator UAVs in Iraq, one in June and one in May. We are still awaiting word on the cause of the June crash, but the service attributed the one in May to mechanical failure.
A new Air Force organization is searching for counter-drone firms to participate in a dozen or more exercises to help create operating plans by the end of this year for defending the service’s U.S.-based installations from drone attacks.