PAF Falco-I surveillance drone crashes
ISLAMABAD - An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed near PAF Mureed base during a test-flight mission due to a reported technical fault, some kilometres away from the district Mianwali in Punjab.No loss of life or property was reported.
According to informed officials at the PAF headquarters here, the crashed UAV was identified as SG Falco-I (Selex), a sophisticated PAF surveillance drone equipped with the latest stealth and surveillance features. No word came from the PAF over the incident. This is the third crash incident involving the PAF operational fleet in the ongoing month. Earlier on Thursday, two PAF Mushshak aircraft had collided in mid-air resulting in the deaths of four pilots, three squadron leaders and a flight lieutenant.
On May 11, a PAF aircraft had crashed in Somiani, a suburban area near Karachi, in which the pilot had remained safe. The SG Falco-I surveillance drone, sources believed, had crashed because its Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system had developed a technical fault and stopped working thereafter. Subsequently, officials said, this had damaged its Ground Data Terminal (GDT) to disrupt communication linkage between the Drone Operating System (DOS) that is characterised with self-protection features and Ground Communication System (GCS).
The self-protection feature was disabled due to the technical lapse thus triggering a chain of in-built programme failures to cause complete communication breakdown that led to the crash, officials shared. This rarely happens on test-missions, they said.The drone crash incident had taken place in the area where the PAF Northern Air Commands training wing is based. Talking to The Nation, District Police Officer (DPO) Mianwali Zubair Dareshak said, the police have registered an (initial) information report (not First Information Report-FIR) about the incident while confirming that no loss of life or damage to property was reported.
He said, the PAF teams were involved in clearing the wreckage while Mianwali police after registering the initial report had completed the investigations. The drone crash landed in a deserted area in the south-west of Mianwali some 15 to 20 kilometres away from the City. Luckily, the population in that area is thin and scattered which prevented any kind of damage, he added. The PAF sources said, officials of Provost branch of the Armed Forces had cleared the wreckage within next few hours after the incident.
Reported to have been inducted in the PAF fleet in the year 2009, SG Falco-I (Selex) UAV is the only surveillance drone the Pakistan Air Force presently has. Being in dozens, (exact number not known), the drone is purportedly launched in the PAF operational fleet at the PAF Masoor and Faisal bases in Karachi, Shaheen (Mushaf) base in Sargodha and respective PAF bases in Peshawar, Quetta and Kamra (Attock). The crash incident is eighth in line with the air crashes involving PAF fleet since October last year.
PAF Falco-I surveillance drone crashes | The Nation
