Two Predator drones crashed in separate incidents, one in southern Turkey and one in Iraq, military officials said Wednesday. One MQ-1 was flying a mission in support of Operation Inherent Resolve when it experienced a mechanical failure just after 9:30 p.m. local time on Oct. 19, the Air Force said. Pilots were able to maintain positive control and bring the Predator down in an unpopulated area; there were no military or civilian injuries. Officials will conduct an investigation to determine what exactly caused the crash. Two days earlier, on Oct. 17, an MQ-1 was flying southeast of Baghdad when the crew lost its link to the aircraft and it crashed near al Kut, OIR spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said. Iraqi police retrieved the Predator and returned it to US control, and there were no injuries, he added. Both drones were carrying Hellfire missiles when they crashed, but the missiles were safely recovered with the aircraft, Warren said. (Warren transcript.)
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
