Mexican drone crashes in El Paso in Texas

[EnglishLady]

BBC News Dec 18

US officials are investigating the crash of a Mexican drone in a residential neighbourhood in the border town of El Paso in Texas.

It crashed on Tuesday and has been returned to Mexico, officials said.

The unmanned aircraft was part of a surveillance test by Mexican authorities that ended when the craft went out of control, US reports said.

It is unclear whether the Mexican government had permission to enter US airspace near the town.

A spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection declined to provide many details about the crash.

On Tuesday, the US responded to a citizen's call and "recovered a small unmanned aerial vehicle which belonged to the government of Mexico", US Customs and Border Protection spokesman Roger Maierwas quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which has the lead in the investigation, said the agency was now working to determine why the drone crashed, spokesman Keith Holloway said

 

[moose]

...And in related news this week :
a UFO Shot Down Over Israel

Object shot out of sky above Israeli nuclear plant, military says - CNN


The Israel Air Force intercepted a suspicious flying object hovering in a closed airspace above the southern Red Sea and endangering a Dimona plant. This is the IAF’s second interception in the air

An Israel Air Force fighter jet shot down a suspicious object flying near the southern Red Sea on Thursday (Dec. 16), after it was determined that the object posed a threat to buildings in the area including the nearby Dimona (southern Israel) plant.
Army Radio stated in a later report that only after the IAF’s southern air-control unit determined the flying object was in a closed airspace, was unmanned and had no reason to be hovering where it was the IAF shot it down.

 

[truckblue]

the rubber band broke....seriously, i hope it was the Mexican gov't and not the cartels'...scary stuff down there!!

 

[Turtle]

The drone is owned by the Mexican government, and is operated by the Ministry of Public Security. It was following a target at the time of the mechanical malfunction which caused it to crash approximately 1/3 to 1/2 mile inside the US border. The Orbiter Mini UAV is designed by the Yavneh, Israel firm, Aeronoautics Defense Systems, for military and homeland security operations. In 2009, Aeronautics Defense Systems and Mexico announced the plan to sell Mexico's federal police over $22 million worth of its Skystar 300 surveillance aerostats and small Orbiter UAVs. The drone that crashed was one of them. It has since been returned to the Mexican authorities.

 

[truckblue]

that's good news. I'm sure the technology will help in controlling drug and human traffic along our border. I also hope that the US can somehow share the info gathered from these drones and use it to our advantage. My prayers go out to those men and women protecting our borders!