US drone crashes in New Mexico military base

Houston: The US Air Force confirmed on Thursday that one of its Predator drones crashed near a military base in New Mexico on Wednesday during a training exercise. No one was injured and no private property was affected in the incident. [caption id=“attachment_1205853” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A US drone. Reuters.[/caption] The crash happened on the White Sands Missile Range from Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo Wednesday. The base is the home of the 49th Wing of the Air Combat Command, which provides combat-ready Airmen, F-22 Raptors, and trains MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper pilots and sensor operators, Xinhua reported. Cause of the crash could not be immediately ascertained. But the MQ-1B drone was said to be experiencing “an in-flight emergency”. According to the Air Force, the drone then flew a pre-programmed path away from human activity until it crashed. Initially conceived in the early 1990s for reconnaissance and forward observation roles, the MQ-1 Predator carries cameras and other sensors but has been modified and upgraded to carry and fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or other munitions. IANS