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Ask Slashdot: Can You Identify This UAV?
garymortimer writes "It's not as sexy as the Beast of Kandahar RQ 170 Sentinel, or as well known as a Predator. But we think the bird-shaped drone that crashed in Pakistan last week might be a U.S. special forces tool. At first it was thought to be a homemade job, but packs with FMC (which means 'Fully Mission Capable') written on them, and an American date style as well, really points to something else. sUAS News is not AvWeek or Flight International so getting scoops is tricky whilst holding down a day job. Our exclusive pictures of the damaged C130 that struck an RQ170 was pretty good for us. We would love to identify this drone. Maybe it is just a homebrew job, maybe it's not. It's not a Festo Smartbird, though, the most popular choice of pundits."
This is an espresso machine. No, no wait. It's a snow cone maker...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I am an alleged expert in UAVs and UAV identification.
This is a first post.
it was always good reading this website. So sad it's going to be shut down for this post:(
http://www.ted.com/talks/a_robot_that_flies_like_a_bird.html
No, It's a weather balloon !
and I've seen a lot of shops~
Seriously, it looks like the UAV the send out with recon groups.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
You sure that's not Flight Management Computer?
****
I thought of this first too, though by the looks of it, it'd have to have gone through about a billion revs to get to this guy if its flight characteristics were the same.
I'd guess it's just a wing-like profile... it looks like a fixed shape. Though I loved the video on the original site... who decided to co-opt the original Airwolf theme music for their report.
It's a hs1fa@*ldk NO CARRIER
to install self destruct devices into "secret" new tech.
To my (somewhat) trained eye, this looks like any other R/C airplane run by amateurs who fly them strictly within line of sight (though many have been putting FPV equipment so they can fly them with a first person view, often a few miles away.)
From time to time our R/C planes do malfunction and will fly off out of our control, or something will go wrong and they'll crash and we won't be able to find and recover them. Perhaps it's just some hobbyist's plane that got away from him? It certainly looks like something a hobbyist made rather than an expensive commercial/military model.
Though I guess this does bode poorly for the hobby -- ham radio operators don't bring their radios with them when they go to many countries because people often equate radios with spies ... I guess the next step is to equate people flying R/C planes with spies?
I think Bellisario should sue... They totally ripped off the Airwolf intro music.
On a side note I love how they took the festo smart bird video and dirtied it up to look military lol...
http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/11369_11439.htm#id_11439
---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.
... but then I'd have to kill you!
Seriously, It's a Streetlight
I Want To Believe
Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
Obviously is is part of an alien spaceship! Where are the remains of the pilots??? ;^)
When will the Air Force show us samples of a weather balloon??? ;^)
It's obviously a pelican illuminated by the reflected glow of swamp gas.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I could tell you. But then I would have to kill you.
Don't know what the bird-thing is, but the background music to the (pakistani?) news video is definitely from the 1980s tv show Airwolf. lol.
http://www.kalam.tv/ur/video/87696/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr_CJL1YQRc
http://www.ted.com/talks/a_robot_that_flies_like_a_bird.html
Have a look at that one
Do you really think that anyone who could identify that UAV, provided that it's a UAV, would respond to your question?
Let's reason.
Those who really can do it would be among:
- people from the company who built it
- people from the DoD who required/bought it
- people from the army/company who operated it
- spies from a dozen of countries.
Now check one by one these categories. None will answer here as a comment. And not even as a private message, as Slashdot has none and because online stuff is traceable.
I would also exclude the email (gary@yyyyyyyyyy) and the phone (0778 6666666) for the same reason.
I would expect a few fake money request into your post box in the Somerset.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
I for one would like to welcome our Alien Bird Overlords.
...whatever that means but it's not a military style date.
Non military. NSA, CIA or some other TLA group.
they're just keeping an eye on things with those billions we give them every year..
Non military non 'official' us goverment drone. Nothing to see here citizen. move along before we shoot you.
It's Skarmory. *cerealguy.jpg*
The more you know, the more you have to say and the more you should listen.
In the world of unacknowledged weapons and surveillance systems pretty much anything could be anything. Just because someone slapped some US military lingo and American formatted dates does not mean anything. Maybe it was built by someone who had been in the States and thought nothing of it but is not connected with the US officially, maybe someone else made it and used surplus American components, maybe someone wanted to try and embarrass the US by making it look American, maybe someone else is spying and does not want it know so just made the thing to look American encase it was captured.
Just off the top of my head it could be:
ISI
CIA
Israel
Some engineering students who have been recruited by extremists
A hobbyist
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Time to don the tin hats, people.
"...the number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected..." - Dennis Ritchie/Ken Thompson, 1972
Somebody lost it in a bar.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
Yes. the TED Video is a demonstration of the FESTO Smartbird, see also Youtube Video. This Video is a stupid mash-up. They seem to have found an small video drone, bird shaped, with fixed wings. Any of intelligence agency or a good RC plane builder can build those. But Smartbid is entirely different. As you can see in the above TED Video it has many organic build internal conjunction. The above shown picture and open body is much simpler. So maybe the found a RC Plane that looks like a bird. Maybe it was even used by a foreign power in an Arabic country. But that video does not give you any clues beside some shaky videos and pictures....
Whoever built it was intent on convincing people on the ground that it's nothing more than a vulture circling overhead for the past 3 days.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
You don't generally get too many hobbyists in war zones.
Looks pretty close.. http://www.suasnews.com/2010/07/421/afrl-bird-sized-uav-project/
If Gary Faulkner in town?
they are surprisingly inexpensive ($500 plus some labor w/ analog video downlink). they are also likely to have been repaired quite frequently (that is if you're lucky and didn't leave a pile of kindle your last encounter with gravity).
on an unrelated note, it's fun to watch confirmation bias in the wild.
Interestingly featured in this Pakastani military website.
Took about 45 seconds to find on Google. Most of the time was spent opening the beer can.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
http://www.theissaviation.com/AOL.html
we have a bunch of these.
Clearly it's a weather balloon.
You can't handle the truth.
This is a small form factor compact local-recon drone deployable in the field from a mobile infantry company probably for the purpose of $#&ff*@!!Ycarrier lost
or a red and blue striped golfing umbrella.
[Insert pithy quote here]
Its a BAV
sUAS News: Is it a bird?
The internet: No.
sUAS News: Is it an airplane?
The internet: Clearly not.
sUAS News: It is Superman!
The internet: Obviously.
It flies like this: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/a_robot_that_flies_like_a_bird.html
clearly the next stage in evolution of cylon birds
There it is! I've been looking all over for it! Thanks. I'll be right over to pick it up.
As long as it's helping to kill those faggot Mooslims I don't give a fuck who made it.
FUCK MOOHAMMAD!!! FUCK ALLAH!!!! FUCK ISLAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is clearly a marketing ruse to encourage us to buy SilverHawks on DVD, which has a cyber-bird named Tally Hawk.
Hmmmm it appears to only be $10 now....
I think it is that paper airplane I threw over the cube wall.
did anyone notice the background track? was that the theme song to Airwolf?
This website: http://defensetech.org/2011/08/29/mystery-drone-crash-in-pakistan/#more-14195
Notes that this Drone is likely a modified Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk. From the looks of it, it very well could be.
You don't generally get too many hobbyists in war zones.
That sounds like crazy talk to me. Of course you get hobbyists in war zones - they're called the "inhabitants" of the newly-created "war zone". Right before it was a "war zone" is was a "place to live" where people probably did have hobbies.
In Pakistan, hobbies include rape, female genital mutilation, sex with boys, and beating women.
Yes, but once it is a war zone we call them terrorists because their hobby *may* help the bad guys. If we can't pin terrorist on them we call them a sympathizer or some other tag that makes it ok to at least harass them.
</whishful sarcasm>
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
Maybe, the Taliban built the UAV to try to crash into our UAV's
It could be a migrating Swallow.
Sigs are for losers
If this was really some top secret super-spy device it would have been rigged to explode.
If you look close at the photos it almost looks like it was cobbled together out of foam core. I doubt it's US. Even if it was a prototype it'd be more refined. It's either a hoax to get press or it's some other country's and they were testing it when it was shot down. The Israelies had a lot of success with cheap model airplanes build by some guy in his garage in the US. I'd be inclined to say it's something similar. Some country got some one to piece together some bird shaped powered gliders with cameras. You could loose a hundred of them for the price of one UAV. The US tends to go more for the Swiss Army Knife approach of making a million dollar plane that will do anything as opposed to a couple of grand plane that has limited range and altitude. The joke is you can put together a nice one for a few hundred in materials. I've seen systems for under 20K that will fly a pattern based on GPS waypoints and take photos that are turned into 3D models. You get a 3D map with images that include all the troop and vehicle placement of the enemy all for the price of a cheap car. Just imagine what the military actually has.
That war zone is superimposed over a lot of people's homes. I'd expect at least a few of them would have hobbies.
If it's not a bird, and it's not a plane, then it must therefore, be Superman.
Yes, but once it is a war zone we call them terrorists because their hobby *may* help the bad guys. If we can't pin terrorist on them we call them a sympathizer or some other tag that makes it ok to at least harass them.
Not to get in the way of a good rant, but other countries do this. Link.
Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
I didn't know Pakistan was in Arkansas. I really have to get an atlas.
Size matters not
From what I've seen and heard, there are actually surprisingly large number of R/C hobbyists in the military. Sometimes those toys find their way into the line of fire.
Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
Could it be a modded raven?
While not very technically advanced, I'd say (based on my R/C and Military experience) that this is in fact some type of close recon UAV, deployed out of a backpack. These guys that are "interrogating" the craft are probably very lucky they weren't the intended target, as the person that launched it is probably on the next hill.
I will add to the date controversy with this tidbit. The US Military writes their dates Day/Month/Year. It was one of the first things I had to learn. Hell I still do it to this day. I get asked all the time why I use the European convention. Then I have to explain, "no, it's the military convention".
So let me suggest that it was deployed by an American, "civilian" organization? Who could that be?
We show geeks how to get their dream girl at EyesOfOdessa.com
Harry Hamlin gotta eat!
this, or something similar?
http://www.ted.com/talks/a_robot_that_flies_like_a_bird.html
Is it just me or does it look like it doesn't cost a million bucks? Which would be a nice change for substantial UAVs. I suspect its an early generation cheap surveillance drone. Fully mission capable as it is; its not like slapping a camera on a remote control plane is really that hard in this day and age.
I want a pair of them shoes!
It's my son's science project. We couldn't get it past TSA, so decided to send it to the fair on it's own.
Table-ized A.I.
War isn't a hobby of the US?
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
If you don't know which way to stand when you're holding a giant sword, you're in serious trouble when the battle happens.
but packs with FMC (which means 'Fully Mission Capable') written on them
FMC is also commonly used to mean "Flight Management Computer" or "Flight Management Controller" or "Flight Module Controller".
The summary doesn't bother to mention it's not "written on" the module, it's written on a piece of tape which is stuck onto a module. And so it the "American Style Date" which is the numbers "8/10/11" and although it does appear to be a date, that's not a certainty.
Link to the actual image of the module on their site:
http://www.suasnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/birdscrn2.jpg
Note also the photo is so blurry you can't read what is actually stamped on the device itself.
Note that it IS possible for a person who is not from the US to use products manufactured and/or assembled in the US, or by people who are from the US. It's also possible for somebody (for example... India) to use a black marker and masking tape. These are not secret American techniques which are above the understanding of the rest of the world.
It could be small recon used by special forces or CIA.
It could be small recon used by a MEDIA organization.
It could be small recon used by ANY other country who'd prefer the world to think it was the US, who happens to be known to operate such devices in the area.
As for what it is, it IS just standard hobby craft. There's no indication of any "sophisticated" or otherwise advanced tech at work here.
Guess it wasn't!
I'm sure I saw something similar to this when I visited Microsoft...
That is known as an RVAE. The new drone that replaced soldiers doing ISTAR.
All cows eat grass!
a variant or FFF Eagle (fan fold foam)
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=950519
The "if other countries do it, it's ok for us to do it too" argument? Really?
It's clearly a swallow, probably meant for the transport of coconuts.
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
ehh, found this today...http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/ucla-student-libya/
Looks like the bird UAV from Festo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnR8fDW3Ilo
Took about 45 seconds to find on Google. Most of the time was spent opening the beer can.
You should learn to shotgun your beers, unless of course it was a Gunnies and if that's the case you should have spent two minutes pouring it.
Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate
You should learn to shotgun your beers, unless of course it was a Gunnies and if that's the case you should have spent two minutes pouring it.
Shit. I spelt Guinness wrong...here come the drunk spelling nazis.
Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate
Looks like the Romulan warbird from Balance of Terror. Am I that old?
Don't be preconceived with your assumptions that it is US in origin. Plenty of counter espionage out there to make it look like a US drone. Don't make an ass of yourself.
Why do all these photographs reek of Pakistani propaganda to me? I feel like I'm looking at photos of UFO wreckage from Roswell.
After the mission to kill Bin Laden in Pakistan, the Pakistani government don't like us very much, and I get the impression this could just be some ploy to provoke anti-American sentiment.
To me, it looks more like a R/C plane with some unrelated bits and pieces that might not even fit into the craft. But, I'm certainly no authority on R/C planes or military surveillance craft.
Doesn't matter, the tech is still useful. It's more than likely something made with readily available OTS hobbyist parts and used by forward operatives. As long as it flies and puts a recon camera up, it doesn't have to be fancy. Cheap and expendable is good in this case, and perhaps it's a one-off build. Made to look like a soaring bird from the ground like a hawk or vulture, so nobody suspects much when the wings don't flap. From the size of it, it doesn't look like anything with much range. Whoever was operating it had it had to be on the ground in that area. (That's probably what's bugging Pakistan most about it. Somebody was actually there not long ago.)
Also it might not just be U.S. Special forces or private contractors (mercenaries) out there either. We're not the only ones with an interest in Pakistan. Could be Mossad or perhaps one of India's special ops groups flying this piece of kit.
looks like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg_JcKSHUtQ&feature=player_embedded