In a statement to BuzzFeed News, a Pentagon spokesperson said the MC-1Q Gray Eagle drone crashed on June 16th as it was returning to base, adding that “technical complications caused a loss of communications”.
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The drone, an MQ-1, crashed on its way back to a recovery base after an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission, U.S. Central Command said.
Several pictures of the downed UAV circulated on the Twitter online social media site. The Pentagon also told Buzzfeed, however, that there “were no weapons on board the aircraft”. An Iraqi man found its remains Tuesday in Samawa, which is located in southern Iraq, the Air Force Times reported. At the moment, Pentagon is working with Iraq to recover the MQ-1’s metallic carcass, even though the drone might never fly again.
This drone was not the first to crash in the region.
Intelligence-gathering and armed drones have been deployed by the USA in Iraq and Syria in order to participate in the US-led air strikes against the Islamic State.
The crash occurred in a government-controlled desert area near Samawah, a city about 280 miles southeast of Baghdad, according to Reuters.
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“I talked to USA advisers and they confirmed that they lost a drone two weeks ago.”, he said.
