According to the Accident Investigation Board reviewing the Aug. 1, 2008, crash of an MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle near Balad AB, Iraq, a short circuit caused electrical fluctuations to the UAV’s primary control module and other critical components, resulting in the crash of the UAV. The Air Combat Command AIB, which released its report March 5, noted that the loss of the Predator and the two Hellfire missiles it carried was valued at $4 million. The AIB could not determine specifically what component prompted the short circuit, citing as possible sources Alternator #1, the power cable that connects this alternator to the dual alternator regulator, or the dual alternator regulator itself. (ACC release)
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…