U.S. drone crashes in Seychelles. WTF?

[green73]

I'd never even heard of this place. Turns out it's way the hell down by Madagascar. WTF are drones doing down there?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/13/us-seychelles-drone-idUSTRE7BC0V120111213

[eduardo89]

Drones need vacation time too!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Grand_Anse-La_Digue-Seychellen.jpg/300px-Grand_Anse-La_Digue-Seychellen.jpg

[kylejack]

http://i.imgur.com/r8Yvx.jpg

I suppose the most likely target would be the pirates in Somalia. Though, what's the operational range of these things? Any chance they were flying it to Iran since Pakistan recently kicked the CIA out?

Edit: Eh, I guess they can still launch from Afghanistan, so yeah, they're probably scoping out the pirates for our next war.

[green73]

I suppose the most likely target would be the pirates in Somalia. Though, what's the operational range of these things? Any chance they were flying it to Iran since Pakistan recently kicked the CIA out?

Edit: Eh, I guess they can still launch from Afghanistan, so yeah, they're probably scoping out the pirates for our next war.

According to this they shouldn't need to be 1000 miles out in the ocean.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--a2Vnr8Nzvg/TsPexePzPTI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/HPyFgdM1brc/s1600/us-military-bases-around-the-world.jpg


Not to mention they actually do have drone bases nearby.
https://www.google.com/search?q=us+drone+bases+africa

[wgadget]

Hey, the Seychelles. Isn't that where the Chinese want to deploy their navy? What a coincidence.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_SEYCHELLES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-12-21-46-38

[green73]

Hey, the Seychelles. Isn't that where the Chinese want to deploy their navy? What a coincidence.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_SEYCHELLES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-12-21-46-38

rep +

[kylejack]

US drone raid kills 9 Somali civilians
Wed Nov 30, 2011 5:22AM GMT

A US Predator assassination drone firing a Hellfire missile (file photo)
A US assassination drone attack has killed at least 9 civilians and left 28 others wounded in south Somalia, Press TV reports.

According to witnesses, the terror attack took place near the southern Somali town of Kulbiyow on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, informed sources at the southern border town of Dhobley have confirmed that more than 700 Kenyan forces that had entered Somalia to fight al-Shabab militants are retreating towards the Kenyan territory following threats of retaliation.

Last month, Kenya dispatched soldiers over its border into Somalia to pursue al-Shabab militants, who have been accused of being behind the kidnapping of several foreigners on its territory. Al-Shabab has denied any involvement in such incidents.

Additionally on Sunday, United Nations Political Office for Somalia met with the country's civil society and rights groups in a bid to solve the decades-long crisis in the war-torn nation.

Somalia is the sixth country, where the United States has used assassination drones to launch missile strikes. The US military has also used drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen.

Washington claims the airstrikes target militants, though civilians constitute the majority of the victims of such attacks.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, the country remains among the ones generating the highest number of refugees and internally-displaced persons in the world.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212937.html

[Simple]

Seychelles is where the drone attacks on Yemen and Somalia are based out of.

[kylejack]

Seychelles is where the drone attacks on Yemen and Somalia are based out of.
I think they're also flying from Djibouti.

[jmdrake]

Considering how our enemies now know how to hack our drones, how do we know this one "crashed"?

[Lucille]

Hey, the Seychelles. Isn't that where the Chinese want to deploy their navy? What a coincidence.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_SEYCHELLES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-12-21-46-38

Beat me to it (http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/100585.html)!

[devil21]

Interesting developments here lately coinciding with the virus reports. Definitely something to watch.

[oyarde]

http://i.imgur.com/r8Yvx.jpg

I suppose the most likely target would be the pirates in Somalia. Though, what's the operational range of these things? Any chance they were flying it to Iran since Pakistan recently kicked the CIA out?

Edit: Eh, I guess they can still launch from Afghanistan, so yeah, they're probably scoping out the pirates for our next war. Correct , engine trouble and yes , being used off the coast of Somalia.

[specialK]

I've always wanted to go there. Not anymore.

[HOLLYWOOD]

http://wikimapia.org/6790383/Indian-Ocean-Station-IOS-site

Map: http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=-4.6717371&lon=55.4788086&z=15&l=0&m=b

I have some great video footage of the Seychelles. The Chinese embassy is the largest on the main island of Mahe. It's facade is frigin Bathroom blue colored tile.

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-11-06/news/mn-284_1_u-s-air-force

[flightlesskiwi]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28164



A wrecked USAF Predator MQ-1B after crashing on a training flight in Nevada in 2009


Our Drone Crash Database has been updated with the details of another thirteen drone crashes that have taken place over the past ten months, including the crash (or ‘hijacking’ according to the Iranians) of the US stealth drone in Iran last week. According to our database 25 large drones have crashed so far this year. Altogether our database records some details of 90 drone crashes since January 2007.



USAF accident investigation announcements reveal that three US Predator drones have crashed in Djibouti, one in March 2011 and two in May 2011. While there are only bare details at this stage, more details should become available when the investigation report is published. It has been known for some time that the US is using a base in Djibouti to launch drone attacks in Yemen and Somalia.



Also revealed by the USAF accident investigation announcement is that the drone that crashed in Jalalabad in Afghanistan on 20th August 2011 was a US Global Hawk RQ-4 drone. This is the first time that we have recorded a crash by a Global Hawk.



Other crashes include an Israeli Heron drone that crashed in Turkey and a Chinese Pterodactyl drone apparently on a test flight.


There is growing pressure on aviation authorities around the globe to allow unmanned aircraft to be allowed to fly in civil airspace. The continuing high level of drone crashes must call this into question.

pair the last sentence with this video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EIUFI-Q4dSI

Predators used to be considered "expendable", btw...

[flightlesskiwi]

also, anyone interested in learning a little more about this stuff should hop on over to:

b ase ops dot net (all one word-- replace dot with .) and click on "forums"

sometimes the d-bags over there don't do too well with opsec.

[ShaneEnochs]

Drones. War has always been fought by men and women. When we take the men and women out of one part of the equation, it's not longer war due to the imbalance of death; it becomes a shooting range.

[HOLLYWOOD]

also, anyone interested in learning a little more about this stuff should hop on over to:

b ase ops dot net (all one word-- replace dot with .) and click on "forums"

sometimes the d-bags over there don't do too well with opsec.
http://theaviationist.com/2011/12/13/seychelles-crash/

U.S. MQ-9 crashes at Mahe, Seychelles. Not a good period for America’s robot war
December 13, 2011
Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation (http://theaviationist.com/category/military-aviation/).
Tags: Beast of Kandahar (http://theaviationist.com/tag/beast-of-kandahar/), CIA (http://theaviationist.com/tag/cia/), drone (http://theaviationist.com/tag/drone/), Iran (http://theaviationist.com/tag/iran/), Iran drone (http://theaviationist.com/tag/iran-drone/), Mahe (http://theaviationist.com/tag/mahe/), Reaper (http://theaviationist.com/tag/reaper/), robot war (http://theaviationist.com/tag/robot-war/), RQ-170 (http://theaviationist.com/tag/rq-170/), Sentinel (http://theaviationist.com/tag/sentinel/), Seychelles International Airport (http://theaviationist.com/tag/seychelles-international-airport/), Special Operations (http://theaviationist.com/tag/special-operations/), stealth (http://theaviationist.com/tag/stealth/), UAS (http://theaviationist.com/tag/uas/), USAF (http://theaviationist.com/tag/usaf/)
trackback (http://theaviationist.com/2011/12/13/seychelles-crash/trackback/)
News agencies are reporting that a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper crashed today at the Seychelles International Airport in Mahe. The cause of the crash is unknown and under investigation but the Reaper (also known as Predator B (http://theaviationist.com/2011/07/12/predator-uas/)) was unarmed and no injuries were reported.
http://cencio4.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/mahe.png?w=264&h=149 (http://cencio4.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/mahe.png)
Seychelles International Airport as seen with Google Maps
The one in the Seychelles is one of the Reaper detachments, a Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) since 2009 from where reconnaissance missions are launched under U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) for anti-piracy purposes even if someone speculates that Mahe is a launch-pad for American robots chasing terrorists in the Horn of Africa.
Indeed if their primary mission is ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) recently leaked documents revealed that U.S. drones based in Mahe have conducted counter-terrorism missions over Somalia, some 800 miles to the northwest of the Seychelles.
However, according to the official statements of the Seychelles Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Seychelles the agreement with the U.S is based on two aircraft being stationed at Mahe and flying unarmed missions.
http://cencio4.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/reaper.jpg?w=460&h=306 (http://cencio4.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/reaper.jpg)
Image source: US Africa Command via Flightglobal The Dew Line

Anyway, considered all the criticism that has been surrounding the drones attacks in Pakistan (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/12/photos-pakistan-drone-war/) and the recent mysterious capture of a stealthy RQ-170 Sentinel (http://theaviationist.com/category/captured-stealth-drone/) (the “Beast of Kandahar”) flying a surveillance mission in Iran, one may say it is not a very good period for America’s robot war…




http://cencio4.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/mahe.png

Here's some real good history: http://www.scribd.com/doc/13719737/Echelon-Surveillance-Network

a clip:


Nixon’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, notes commercial espionage was endorsed by the US government as early as 1970: “By and large, we recommended that henceforth economic intelligence beconsidered a function of the national security, enjoying a priority equivalent to diplomatic, military, and technological intelligence.”<54 (http://../FN54#FN54)>

To accommodate the need for information regarding international commercial deals, the intelligence agencies set up a small, unpublicized department within the Department of Commerce, the Office of Intelligence Liaison. This office receives intelligence reports from the US intelligence agencies about pending international deals that it discreetly forwards to companies that request it or may have an interest in the information.

Immediately after coming to office in January 1993, President Clinton added to thecorporate espionage machine by creating the National Economic Council, which feeds intelligence to“select” companies to enhance US competitiveness. The capabilities of ECHELON to spy on foreigncompanies is nothing new, but the Clinton administration has raised its use to an art:
•
In 1990 the German magazine
Der Speigel
revealed that the NSA had intercepted messages aboutan impending $200 million deal between Indonesia and the Japanese satellite manufacturer NECCorp. After President Bush intervened in the negotiations on behalf of American manufacturers,the contract was split between NEC and AT&T.
•
In 1994, the CIA and NSA intercepted phone calls between Brazilian officials and the Frenchfirm Thomson-CSF about a radar system that the Brazilians wanted to purchase. A US firm,Raytheon, was a competitor as well, and reports prepared from intercepts were forwarded toRaytheon.<55 (http://../FN55#FN55)>
•
In September 1993, President Clinton asked the CIA to spy on Japanese auto manufacturers thatwere designing zero-emission cars and to forward that information to the Big Three US carmanufacturers: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.<56 (http://../FN56#FN56)> In 1995, the New York Times reportedthat the NSA and the CIA’s Tokyo station were involved in providing detailed information to USTrade Representative Mickey Kantor’s team of negotiators in Geneva facing Japanese carcompanies in a trade dispute.<57 (http://../FN57#FN57)> Recently, a Japanese newspaper,
Mainichi
, accused the NSAof continuing to monitor the communications of Japanese companies on behalf of Americancompanies.<58 (http://../FN58#FN58)>
•
Insight Magazine
reported in a series of articles in 1997 that President Clinton ordered the NSAand FBI to mount a massive surveillance operation at the 1993 Asian/Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) hosted in Seattle. One intelligence source for the story related that over 300 hotel rooms had been bugged for the event, which was designed to obtain information regarding oil and hydro-electric deals pending in Vietnam that were passed on to high level Democratic Party contributors competing for the contracts.<59 (http://../FN59#FN59)>

But foreign companies were not the onlylosers: when Vietnam expressed interest in purchasing two used 737 freighter aircraft from an American businessman, the deal was scuttled after Commerce Secretary Ron Brown arranged favorable financing for two new 737s from Boeing.<60 (http://../FN60#FN60)>

But the US is not the only partner of the UKUSA relationship that engages in such activity. British PrimeMinister Margaret Thatcher ordered the GCHQ to monitor the activities of international media mogulRobert Maxwell on behalf of the Bank of England.<61 (http://../FN61#FN61)> Former CSE linguist and analyst Jane Shorten claimed that she had seen intercepts from Mexican trade representatives during the 1992-1993 NAFTA trade negotiations, as well as 1991 South Korean Foreign Ministry intercepts dealing with the...

[Zap!]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--a2Vnr8Nzvg/TsPexePzPTI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/HPyFgdM1brc/s1600/us-military-bases-around-the-world.jpg

Why are there US military bases in Canada? I also find it a bit hard to believe there are US troops in Russia and China. Why would they let us do that?

[kylejack]

Why are there US military bases in Canada? I also find it a bit hard to believe there are US troops in Russia and China. Why would they let us do that?
Like Ron Paul does, I think this map is probably relying on embassies and their defensive soldiers, which imo "doesn't count".

[HOLLYWOOD]

Why are there US military bases in Canada? I also find it a bit hard to believe there are US troops in Russia and China. Why would they let us do that?Besides the usual Spy agencies (Embassies and Consulates) there's also crews for Nuclear START verification and Nuke safety. The US has given Russia $10 Billion in USAID for Nuclear proliferation safety/security in the past 10 years. There's also joint crap too, that you dont hear much about.

Our US government BUYS everyone across the planet at our expense.

[Zap!]

Besides the usual Spy agencies (Embassies and Consulates) there's also crews for Nuclear START verification and Nuke safety. The US has given Russia $10 Billion in USAID for Nuclear proliferation safety/security in the past 10 years. There's also joint crap too, that you dont hear much about.

Our US government BUYS everyone across the planet at our expense.

That's insane. I really wonder just how rich the US would be if we didn't doe these types of things or engage in wars and the like. We'd probably be averaging $100,000 a year.

[Pericles]

According to this they shouldn't need to be 1000 miles out in the ocean.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--a2Vnr8Nzvg/TsPexePzPTI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/HPyFgdM1brc/s1600/us-military-bases-around-the-world.jpg


Not to mention they actually do have drone bases nearby.
https://www.google.com/search?q=us+drone+bases+africa

Bogus information - those 156 countries are mostly MAAGs which teach how to use the US made military equipment they have. Those with "bases" at least have some relationship to US military efforts.

This thread shows why you have airplane drivers. Unmanned equipment assumes you have an unbreakable data link between man and machine. That is an invalid assumption, and a critical weakness in the system.

[dillo]

I bet the chinese micro chips installed in our US drones have "backdoor" programs and some 18 year old chinese intern is fucking with us

[Pericles]

Why are there US military bases in Canada? I also find it a bit hard to believe there are US troops in Russia and China. Why would they let us do that?

Russia - we have monitors for the CSCE treaty to verify number and type of weapons permitted by treaty.

China - we have a one China policy, so Taiwan counts as China

Again this X thousand troops stationed in however many countries is a bogus statistic. Its like counting embassy guards as troops at a foreign base - technically correct, but misleading.

[HOLLYWOOD]

update

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/drone-crashes-in-seychelles/2011/12/13/gIQAQ3PsrO_blog.html

U.S. military drone crashes in Seychelles By Jason Ukman (http://www.washingtonpost.com/jason-ukman/2011/03/02/ABr5GIQ_page.html)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/checkpoint-washington/StandingArt/dronecrash.jpg?uuid=tFEMDCWdEeG6UZmisn9jBQ
An MQ-9 Reaper is retrieved after crashing at the airport in Seychelles. (Courtesy Le Seychellois Hebdo) One of the Air Force’s premier drones crashed Tuesday morning in the Seychelles, the Indian Ocean archipelago that serves as a base for anti-piracy operations, as well as U.S. surveillance missions over Somalia (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-building-secret-drone-bases-in-africa-arabian-peninsula-officials-say/2011/09/20/gIQAJ8rOjK_story.html).
The crash of the MQ-9 Reaper comes roughly two weeks after a U.S. drone went down in Iran (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-says-it-downed-us-stealth-drone-pentagon-acknowledges-aircraft-downing/2011/12/04/gIQAyxa8TO_story.html).
The Seychelles, where U.S. officials have worked closely with local officials to establish the drone base, is hardly enemy territory, and the drone that crashed Tuesday was operated by the Air Force, not the CIA, which operated the stealth RQ-170 that crashed in Iran.
Still, Tuesday’s crash once again illustrates the fallibility of unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Air Force acknowledged the crash at the Seychelles airport, and a spokesman for the service said the crash happened as the drone was landing. No one was injured.
The Air Force said the cause of the crash — the first ever of a Reaper in the Seychelles — was under investigation. A statement from the civil aviation authority in the Seychelles attributed it to engine failure, saying that, after landing, the drone failed to stop before skidding into an outcropping of rocks at the end of the runway.
“It has been confirmed that this drone was unarmed and its failure was due to mechanical reasons,” the statement said. The Air Force confirmed that the MQ-9 was unarmed.
Photos of the Reaper show that it sustained heavy damage, with the nose of the drone carved off and one wing partially missing.
Gervais Henrie, editor of the local Le Seychellois Hebdo, who witnessed a crew lifting the remains of the drone with a crane after the crash, said it had burst into flames. Much of the Reaper appeared charred.
“Totally destroyed,” Henrie said in a phone interview.
The U.S. military is believed to have only a handful of Reapers in the Seychelles, based in a hangar located about a quarter-mile from the main passenger terminal at the airport.
The island nation of 85,000 people has hosted the drones since September 2009 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/in-tropical-paradise-us-drones-add-up-to-revenue/2011/09/22/gIQAkqRSnK_blog.html). U.S. and Seychellois officials have said the primary mission of the Reapers was to track pirates in regional waters, but they have also been used to conduct surveillance missions over Somalia.
The base in the Seychelles is part of a constellation of drone bases that the U.S. government has expanded in the region to monitor or attack al-Qaeda affiliates.
Hernie said Seychellois often see the Reapers flying overhead, and that they have come to accept them as a a routine part of living in the islands.

The Air Force said the cause of the crash of the MQ-9 was under investigation. (Courtesy Le Seychellois Hebdo)


Related drone coverage:

- Officials: U.S. assembling secret drone bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-building-secret-drone-bases-in-africa-arabian-peninsula-officials-say/2011/09/20/gIQAJ8rOjK_story.html)

[Hospitaller]

That's insane. I really wonder just how rich the US would be if we didn't doe these types of things or engage in wars and the like. We'd probably be averaging $100,000 a year.

we probably would be averaging $10,000 a year (adjusted for no inflation :))