In August 2011, a video clip from Kalam TV brought to light the capture of a mysterious American bird-like drone crashed over southwestern Pakistan (image below).
Although initially believed to be a sort of home made job, a more in-depth analysis of the images taken at the crash site, showed that the unusual, never seen before robot, was quite sophisticated: the drone had flapping wings, ailerons and a belly camera to spy on insurgents along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
What nobody knew at that time was that the (American) mystery bird drone was far from being new, as it had already been used in Iraq.
In fact, a reader of this site sent me an email to explain that the same weird UAV downed in Pakistan had been captured by the Iraqi Hezbollah near al-Bashra, in Iraq, on May 23, 2009 (original video source of the following screenshots can be found here).
Unlike the Pakistan example, the one crashed in Iraq and filmed by Hezbollah, seems to be in better conditions, with its underfuselage camera and moving parts, fairly intact.
More from The Aviationist
The Incredible Armada of Aircraft Behind 1969’s Battle of Britain Film
On Sept. 15, 1969, cinema audiences were treated to a dramatic portrayal…
US Approves Possible Sale of Nine KC-46A Pegasus Tankers for Japan
The latest deal would take the number of KC-46As in Japan’s inventory…
U.S. State Department Approves $7.2B Sale Of F-35 Jets To Romania
The Foreign Military Sale’s approval comes after Romania announced the plan to…
Wooden Avengers, Target Kites, and Draftees: How America’s First New Deal Community Took the Fight to the Axis
Situated in the quiet hills of West Virginia, the small town of…
DARPA Awards BAE Systems $4 Million for Autonomous Beyond Visual Range Air Combat Program
Autonomy solutions for BVR combat will initially be developed and demonstrated on…
When the few images of the bird drone spread online someone speculated it could just have been a DIY rc model made by soldiers with their equipment or a low-cost UAV assembled by China or India to satisfy their insatiable need to spy.
The fact that it was probably already flying in Iraq two years before crashing in Pakistan, proves that the bird-like UAV is not a toy but a small combat proven spy drone.
