Panel from Army Aviation Center of Excellence to investigate Shadow incident.

RQ 7 Shadow

With thanks again to the Sierra Vista Herald

SIERRA VISTA — A panel of staff from the Army Aviation Center of Excellence out of Fort Rucker, Ala., likely will lead the investigation into why an unmanned aerial vehicle crashed north of Fort Huachuca on Monday.

At some time around 6 p.m., a Shadow UAV unit crashed about 900 meters north of the installation, said Tanja Linton, media relations officer for the fort

The aircraft, and others like it, is operated out of the Rugge-Hamilton Airfield off of Canelo Road.

No additional information about the incident was available on Tuesday.

Attempts to contact the aviation center at Fort Rucker regarding the specifications of the Shadow and any impending investigation were not successful Tuesday, though Linton did say that the unit is “used in current operations” for “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance purposes.”

Derek Jordan • Herald/Review

Gary Mortimer

Founder and Editor of sUAS News | Gary Mortimer has been a commercial balloon pilot for 25 years and also flies full-size helicopters. Prior to that, he made tea and coffee in air traffic control towers across the UK as a member of the Royal Air Force.