Thread: Mexican drone crashes in Texas during test UPDATED

Mexico keeps drone incident under wraps

by Aileen B. Flores \ El Paso Times
Posted: 12/23/2010 12:00:00 AM MST

The Mexican drone that crashed into a Lower Valley neighborhood of El Paso last week is so secret that Mexican officials don't know very much about it.

The Mexican army on Wednesday said the drone -- an Orbiter Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle developed by the Aeronautics Defense System -- was not the army's.

Mexican officials finally relented after prodding and said the drone belonged to the Mexican Federal Police.

But Jose Ramon Salinas, a spokesman for that agency, said Wednesday he could not talk about it in any way because it is highly secret and he did not have access to any information.

And Mexican army Lt. Col. Francisco Enriquez Rojas said in an e-mail that "all information related to unmanned aircraft systems is classified as restricted." He offered no further information.

The drone crashed into a yard on Craddock Avenue, near the intersection with Yar brough Drive, on Dec. 14.

It was retrieved by U.S. officials and immediately turned over to Mexican authorities. Authorities did not release the exact address where the incident occurred.

At the time, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., acknowledged that the drone belonged to Mexico and that it developed some kind of trouble while on surveillance and fell into the U.S.

He said U.S. officials were notified that the aircraft had developed difficulties and was about to crash.

Vincent Perez, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, said his office has not received further information on the case from any of the agencies that assisted in the incident.
Among the agencies involved in the crash response were U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Officials of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, said they are still investigating what went wrong with the aircraft.

"Typically (the investigation) can take almost a year," said

MEXICO IN FOCUS
Analysis on news out of Mexico

Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the agency.
He did not elaborate on how the investigation will proceed because Mexico has the drone.

Leticia Zamarripa, a spokeswoman for ICE, said her office assisted as liaison between U.S. officials and Mexican authorities in the return of the drone.

She said ICE was never in custody of the craft.

This is thought to be the first time a Mexican drone has been reported operating along the border.

Officials at the Mexican Embassy could not confirm how long Mexico has been using the Orbiter Mini.

They said the government will not disclose how many drones patrol in Mexico, citing national security concerns. Mexican news outlets have reported the purchase of drones by the government in the past two years.

In the U.S., drones have been used to patrol the border since 2005, when Predator B's were deployed to the border in Arizona.

The Department of Homeland Security will start using another drone in the Texas border in 2011, said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website.

The Predator B is much bigger than the Mexican drone that crashed in El Paso, weighs 10,000 pounds and has a 66-foot wingspan.
A Predator B crashed 10 miles north of Nogales, Ariz., in 2006.

Aeronautics Defense System's website said the drone used by Mexico is designed for use in military and Homeland Security missions.

It can be used for reconnaissance missions, low-intensity conflicts and urban warfare.

Aileen B. Flores may be reached at aflores@elpasotimes.com; 546-6362.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_16925337

The Mexican drone was 7 feet.

The U.S. drones are 66 feet.

The Mexican drone sounds more like a model plane than a drone.

the 7-foot-long Orbiter Mini UAV drone

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40716199/ns ... -security/

The Predator B is much bigger than the Mexican drone that crashed in El Paso, weighs 10,000 pounds and has a 66-foot wingspan.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_16925337