Not one of ours, thankfully. From the article:
"Holloway said the aircraft that crossed into the U.S. air space is a mini orbiter unmanned aerial vehicle developed by the Aeronautics Defense System.
It is designed for use in military and homeland security missions, and is capable of conducting over-the-hill reconnaissance missions, low-intensity conflict and urban warfare operations, and any other related close range mission."
Comments
How do they manage to have such a high ceiling?
If it landed in my yard, It's a goner, added to my fleet!
If it uses GPS tracker I can fix that.. hope they don't try to claim it.
3hrs endurance, 18000' ceiling...nice.
this is probably what the drug cartels are using to watch our border patrol - not much chance of being caught and strap on a ir camera and a couple of these will not only watch their payloads of drugs coming up, but also give their 'mules' a heads up to where and when to go or their 'guides' a heads up as to where to ambush some US border agents. and i would bet that somehow they were purchased by a corrupt 'gov' organization that we in the US actually paid for...yay :(
Not the first time an Orbiter has gone AWOL
http://www.botjunkie.com/2009/01/16/irish-uav-gets-lost-tries-to-ma...
Maybe its Irish?
The Mexican's say it is not theirs which makes me wonder if the manufacturer was running some field demos?
The article states it ws returned to the Government of Mexico almost immediately.
How soon will this Mexican UAV be on eBay assuming that the we will not allow the Mexican government to recover it without paying for any damage caused by the UAV. LOL!!!
Regards,
TCIII
Yes and I use to play with my son and his plane in "String Altitude Hold" . At home. :)
VLOS enforcement equipment does take some getting used to.
I wonder why the FAA is keen for people to be trained and licenced.