C130 and RQ 7 collision, fingers pointing at C130 crew.

Avweek has confirmed what we have heard from a couple of sources. Only the official report will tell what really happened. Somebody must have been watching this unfold on radar though and could have given avoiding action to either party.

Investigation is under way, but “the [Shadow] was where it was supposed to be, doing what it was supposed to,” says Col. Robert Sova, UAV capabilities manager at Army Training and Doctrine Command.

The Shadow was in a holding pattern 4,500 ft. off the end of the runway, where it had been directed by air traffic control, when the C-130 “flew right through,” Owings says. “The manned aircraft did not do what it was procedurally supposed to, nor were they where they thought they were,” Sova says

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An initial analysis may absolve the AAI RQ-7 Shadow of blame for a mid-air collision with a Lockheed Martin C-130 over Afghanistan on August 15, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Rather than colliding with the manned aircraft, the unmanned RQ-7 was overtaken from behind by the C-130, sources said.