What on Earth is this little guy? You're looking at pictures of what's apparently a small U.S. spy drone that crashed last week in Pakistan. The little drone apparently took off from a U.S. base at Qarar Ga airbase near Spinboldak in Kandahar and went down about 300 meters inside Pakistan near a Pakistani Frontier Corps base, according to press reports.
Anyone recognize the micro-UAV that's apparently equipped with two cameras (though the picture above shows what could be four sensor apertures)? I've asked several analysts, including Teal Group UAV expert Phil Finnegan, to ID the bird and no one seems to know what it is. Update: Teal's other UAV guru, Steve Zaloga tells DT that it might be a modified Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk.
It may be a Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk with the tail plane modified to look
more like a bird for camouflage. Just a guess, but the overall size and
other features are in that ball-park. The Desert Hawk is operated mainly by the
British, but the SOF community also operates a lot of small UAVs of
mysterious provenance.
Click through the jump to see more pics of the drone. Come back for updates as we find out more.
I'd like to know how it's powered and what those two circular pieces of wreckage are (sensors, perhaps).
