As regular readers will know, Drone Wars UK tracks crashes of the larger type II and III military UAVs in our Drone Crash Database (details of UAV classifications here). We have just updated our list with a further six crashes during 2013, including military drone crashes in the US, Israel, Mali and Afghanistan. Although the crash of a US military target drone in Florida received much media attention again this is of a type we do not record in our database. Read more
Category: Military drone crashes
A Century of Drone Crashes
This week the USAF released an accident investigation report into the crash of a US Predator drone in Afghanistan in April 2012. This crash brings the number of drone crashes in our updated database to 100 (see full database here) and so we thought it a good time to do some data crunching.
Our database primarily contains details of crashes of Class 2 and Class 3 UAVs (i.e. medium and large drones – see here for explanation of drone class and size) since January 2007. However there are a few occasions when small drone crashes have been included for some notable reasons (i.e. crashed with another aircraft). We continue to maintain this database as, although safety and reliability is a key issue in the growing use of unmanned aerial vehicles, nobody appears to be publicly compiling drone crash information. We are not claiming that our database is complete. Given the secretive nature of drone operations and development, it is highly likely that other drone crashes have occurred and not been publicly reported. Read more
Drone crashes continue into 2012
While the drone industry regularly boasts about the spectacular rise in the use of unmanned drones (see this report of the latest drone lobby gathering as an example) their silence on the number of drones plummeting back to earth with a bang is almost deafening.
Our drone crash database contains some details of over 90 drone crashes since 2007 and we have now added details of five more large military drones that have crashed since the beginning of 2012. We have also added details of a previously unreported US Predator drone crash in Djibouti in March 2011 which has only now been revealed by USAF military accidents reports (other drone crashes in Djibouti have previously been reported). Of course many other smaller drones will have crashed, but the drone crash database concentrates on the larger Class II and Class III drones) (see here for a general guide to drone sizes) Read more
Iran, Djibouti, Afghanistan, China: Drones Simply Keep Crashing
Our Drone Crash Database has been updated with the details of another thirteen drone crashes that have taken place over the past ten months, including the crash (or ‘hijacking’ according to the Iranians) of the US stealth drone in Iran last week. According to our database 25 large drones have crashed so far this year. Altogether our database records some details of 90 drone crashes since January 2007. Read more
Crash!!! Its raining drones
In the same week that a UK industry insider told a drone conference in the US that the UK is preparing to take preliminary steps in plans that will eventually allow drones to fly in UK civil airspace, three drones on operation in Afghanistan and Somali have crashed.
On 16th August, an RQ-7 Shadow drone, which is about 12 feet long and 20 feet across, crashed into a US military cargo plane in East Afghanistan. There were no reports of injuries and the cargo plane made an emergency landing. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, a US military official commentating on the drone said (with no apparent trace of irony) “We were in complete control up until the collision.” Read more
Drone Crash Database
Over the past couple of months I have regularly ended blog posts by reporting that yet another military drone had crashed. While drones are portrayed by the defence industry and many in the media as the latest ‘invincible’ super-weapon that will make us safe and secure, the reality is that they often simply fall out of the sky.
With the growing use of armed drones and the increasing pressure from some quarters to allow drones to fly in civilian airspace in the UK, the reliability and safety of drones is a key issue. Using USAF Accident Investigation Board reports, the Wikileaks War Logs and press reports I have begun a database of drone crashes since the beginning of 2007. I have not included crashes of the smaller UAV’s (sometimes called mini-UAVs) as the crash so often it would simply swamp the database (see this Australian article on mini-UAV crashes reported in the Wikileaks war logs which gives an idea of how often they crash!)
The database is almost certainly not complete as there is often no public notification when a UAV crashes. If you know of drone crashes not in the database do let me know.