Here with more about the American drone aircraft found floating in Filipino waters.
Identified and the source of origin determined with pinpoint accuracy..
Thanks the FilipinoReporter:
"U.S.: Target drone came from Guam drill"
"MANILA — An unarmed target drone found in the waters off Masbate was launched from a U.S. Navy ship during a combat exercise off Guam last year and may have been washed by ocean currents to the country, the U.S. Embassy said."
This particular image gives ua a good idea of the scale and size of the drone. NOT so big!
"U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Bettina Malone said the BQM-74E drone was launched from the USS Chafee, a guided-missile destroyer, as a mock missile target during naval combat exercises off Guam’s coast in September."
This is the Chukar. The BQM-74 naval target drone.
This black and white image dated 1972 shows a Chukar being fired from some sort of floating platform. Over a period of decades Chukar has performed yeoman service.
This missing drone launched during a naval exercise from back in last September. Lost, not recovered and having floated from Guam to Filipino waters during that time. That is about 2,000 miles [3,2000 kilometers]!
Chukar has been around for some time and has existed in various Marks ever improving capability.
"The BQM-74 Chukar is a series of aerial target drones produced by Northrop. The Chukar has gone through three major revisions, including the initial MQM-74A Chukar I, the MQM-74C Chukar II, and the BQM-74C Chukar III. They are recoverable, remote controlled, subsonic aerial target, capable of speeds up to Mach 0.86 and altitudes from 30 to 40,000 ft (10 to 12,000 m)."
Capable of floating and being picked up after and exercise, re-use-able!
Chukar a cruise missile like drone and YES I did at first think it was part of some unspecified and secret naval exercise in the South China Sea, American and allied military forces conducting war games, the drone out of control and lost. But this evidently is not the case.
coolbert.
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