Aircraft Was Located 10 Days Later In A Tree Near Denver, CO

A U.S. Army SQ-7Bv2 drone launched in southern Arizona on January 31 lost lost connection with its controllers shortly after becoming airborne, and was not heard from again until it was discovered in pieces in a tree near Denver, CO 10 days later.

Stars and Stripes reports that the Shadow Drone was deployed as part of a training mission at Fort Huachuca in Arizona by soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade of the 7th Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, according to Lt. Col. Fredrick Williams, a division spokesman.

Tanja Linton, a spokeswoman for the Fort Huachuca, said that the aircraft flew the entire 630 miles without the benefit of positive control from an operator.

What is not know is how the aircraft, which has a published range of 77 miles, managed to fly nearly eight times that distance. Army Aviation spokesman Paul Stevenson told Stars and Stripes that the 450-pound aircraft with a 20-foot wingspan normally operates autonomously using a pre-set bearing, altitude and wind speed. The crew normally consists of a flight operator and a payload operator, who controls the onboard camera.

While Stevenson would not reveal the actual range of the aircraft, the 77-mile range is the limit of the link of the ground control station with the aircraft. It can fly much further than 77 miles in a circular pattern, he said.

Paul Scharre, a former unmanned system policy official at the Pentagon and director of the Future of Warfare Initiative at the Center for a New American Security, said that link-loss is not uncommon, but is accounted for in the aircraft's design.

The aircraft had to fly at altitudes of at least 12,000 feet to clear mountains along the route it took. It was found by a hiker in the tree in Evergreen, CO missing a wing.

Textron, the manufacturer of the aircraft, declined to comment about the Shadow's capabilities or confirm any discussions with the Army about safety or legal issues with such a wayward aircraft.

(U.S. Army file image)

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