U.S. DRONE CRASHES IN 'EL SALVADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470034-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: August 24, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470034-2
ARTICLE I'M
ON PAGE -'
WASHINGTON POST
24 August 1985
U.S. Drone Crashes in ]El Salvador
Pilotless Reconnaissance Aircraft Being Tested by Army
By George C. Wilson
Wa.hington Peat Staff Writer
A pilotless plane that the U.S.
Army is testing in El Salvador by
conducting reconnaissance missions
for the Salvadoran government
crashed yesterday, the U.S. Embas-
sy in San Salvador and the Penta-
gon confirmed. ? .
. The plane,- called ar drone, had
taken off from an airfield is San Lo-
renzo and crashed near San Carlos,
100 miles northeast of San Sal-
vador.
The Peptagon 1 saifi it, did not
know why the drone crashed but
said it was not hit by hostile fire. It
was the first known crash in El Sal-
vador of the drone, a spokesman
said..
The use of the drone in El Sal-
vador is part of a stepped-up effort
by the U.S. military to equip itself
with new generations of pilotless
planes that can fly over an enemy a
battlefield in a war and send back
images via television without risk-
ing lives of air crews.
Military officials said even Third
World countries are arming them-
selves with such sophisticated an-
tiaircraft weapons that U.S. war-
planes cannot expect to fly against
them without losses.
They cited the Dec. 4, 1983,
Navy bombing raid in Lebanon
where two bombers were lost and
one pilot was killed. The raid was
launched to retaliate for Syrian gun-
ners in Lebanon firing at a Navy
F 14 reoonnaiwwnce plane.
Israel, rather than risk pilots and
expensive planes, has developed a
'family of drones for reconnaissance
and jamming antiaircraft defenses
just before its manned bombers
swoop in on their targets.
The Ji..S. Army, D(:.ivy, Air Force
and Maripe Corps all are trying to
develop or buy better drones;
The Pentagon said a team of 20
Army and contractor personnel
went to El Salvador in November
with the Skyeye drone built by the
Astronautics Division of Lear Sie-
gler Inc.
The Skyeye is 12 feet long, has a
wingspan of 171/2 feet and can stay
aloft for up to eight hours with a
light load.
An operator on the ground di-
rects its movements with a joystick
while sitting at a console displaying:
what the drone's cameras are see-'
ing.
The Salvadoran government al-
most certainly has requested t e'
U.S. operators of Skyeye to fly ovesr
areas suspected to have concentrat#
of rebel troops, although they
Pentagon would not say w h,20 type
of reconnaiesaace the drone wag
doing as part of its test pregram. It
rebels were located by the drone
providing what is called "real-time'
intelligence," government-_(orces
could move in on them.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Donald
R. Hamilton in San Salvador cony
.firmed the plane was on a U.S. in=:
telligence-gathering' mission in sup
port of Salvadoran military opera
tions, according to the Associated
Press.
The Aruy is testing the Skyeye
to see if it wants to buy it 'for its
own forces, according to the Pen;
tagon, but has not reached a deci.-'
Sion.
The drone takes off under its
own power and can land on the
ground after its mission or, in an
emergency, come down to earth by'
parachute.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470034-2