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| The Grand Turk | |
| Two US Predator drones crash in Iraq, Turkey | |
| 2015-10-22 | |
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and Iraq, a US military official said Wednesday. Predator drones are capable of being equipped with deadly munitions, but it was not immediately clear if they were armed at the time of the incidents. In the first case on October 16, a Predator crew reported a "lost link and subsequent crash while the Predator was flying southeast of Baghdad," military front man Colonel Steve Warren said. Local Iraqi police recovered the drone in the vicinity of Al-Kut. They returned the aircraft to US control and there were no injuries, Warren said. Then on October 19, a different Predator "crashed" in southern Turkey, Warren said. Local media have said it came down in Hatay. "The aircraft experienced mechanical failure. The Air Force in this case maintained positive control of the aircraft and brought it down safely in an unpopulated area," Warren said. Again, the aircraft was returned to US control. Both incidents are under investigation. The United States is leading a 60-plus member coalition targeting Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... jihadists in Iraq and Syria and has been carrying out frequent warplane and drone raids for more than a year. Turkey has permitted the United States to use a base at Incirlik in southern Turkey to conduct strikes against ISIS. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 Also a lot of hours being put on the operators. Plus, as a bonus, anything that that glitches the comm service (similar to intertube outage) sends the birds into "huh" mode. They're supposed to go into orbital routine, but if the flight profile is in an iffy situation, that air-ground interface sometimes comes into play. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2015-10-22 13:34 |
| #3 Also lots of hours being put on these birds. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2015-10-22 13:29 |
| #2 Very difficult to actually observe and shoot down [but not impossible] with ground based small arms fire (SAF) when aloft at altitude 5k-15k feet or higher. My guess and only a guess, without examining the wreckage would be technical difficulties or weather. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-10-22 11:53 |
| #1 not shot down? |
| Posted by: paul 2015-10-22 09:52 |