Ask Slashdot: Can You Identify This UAV? 232
garymortimer writes "It's not as sexy as the Beast of Kandahar RQ 170 Sentinel, or as well known as a Predator. But we think the bird-shaped drone that crashed in Pakistan last week might be a U.S. special forces tool. At first it was thought to be a homemade job, but packs with FMC (which means 'Fully Mission Capable') written on them, and an American date style as well, really points to something else. sUAS News is not AvWeek or Flight International so getting scoops is tricky whilst holding down a day job. Our exclusive pictures of the damaged C130 that struck an RQ170 was pretty good for us. We would love to identify this drone. Maybe it is just a homebrew job, maybe it's not. It's not a Festo Smartbird, though, the most popular choice of pundits."
Re:Its a... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The US has lost enough tech to know (Score:5, Informative)
Re:There was a TED talk about robot birds that siz (Score:4, Informative)
Interestingly featured in this Pakastani military [defence.pk] website.
Took about 45 seconds to find on Google. Most of the time was spent opening the beer can.
Re:The US has lost enough tech to know (Score:4, Informative)
I watched the video, which has additional views of the interior.
The part mark plate on the component marked "fmc" and the few metal components of the fuselage of the airframe look suspiciously like lockheed martin's work.
(Disclaimer: I work in aerospace. This looks like their engineering in the metal bulkhead design. If not them, a subsidiary. Do not know the model. The part mark placcard stinks of LM. BOEING uses inkjet partmarking, as did raytheon aero before hawker beech bought them.)
Re:FMC? (Score:4, Informative)