A U.S. MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) crashed on August 7 in the district of Radwaniyah west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
The U.S.-led coalition acknowledged that that one of its drone made “an unscheduled landing” in Baghdad due to what it described as “a mechanical problem.”
“The aircraft landed safely and was successfully recovered by Iraqi Security Force troops. No one was injured and no property was damaged in the landing or recovery,” the coalition said in a statement released on August 9.
Developed by General Atomics, the MQ-1C entered service in 2009. The UCAV has an endurance of up to 25 hours and a service ceiling of over 8km.
Photos of the Gray Eagle’s wreckage show that it was equipped with two dual launchers, which indicates that it may have been armed with four AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missiles.
Click to see full-size image
Click to see full-size image
Contrary to the U.S.-led coalition’s claims, Iraqi sources said that the UCAV crashed as a result of an electronic attack. These claims have not been confirmed, so far.
Last February, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) revealed that it had taken control of several U.S. drones and even crashed one of them in Iraq.
