A U.S. Army drone lost power and made a hard landing on a road this afternoon near the Fort Indiantown Gap National Guard Training Center in Lebanon County. A Guard spokesperson said the unmanned aircraft, a RQ-7 Shadow, made an uncontrolled “hard” landing after it lost power. But once on the ground the drone was run over by a civilian vehicle near the Comfort Inn, along Fisher Avenue. The civilian vehicle was only slightly damaged. There were no injuries.
The drone was damaged beyond repair. It cost approximately $125,000. The drone was being used in a training mission when it went down. The RQ-7 Shadow weighs approximately 375 pounds and is approximately 11 feet long and has a wingspan of 14 feet.
Guardsmen reportedly retrieved pieces of the 11-foot aircraft from the front of Lickdale Elementary School.
The Pennsylvania Army National Guard presently conducts training operations with the RQ-7 Shadow and RQ-11 Raven unmanned aerial vehicles out of Fort Indiantown Gap over the installation’s approved airspace.