TUAV CU161003
21 November 2003
Kabul, Afghanistan
The accident air vehicle a SPERWER UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was part of a flight test program, successful completion of which would lead the issuance of a flight authority for UAV operations in Afghanistan.
The mission had launched without incident and the in flight portion of the test profile was flown without any difficulties. Once the recovery mode had been commanded the vehicles parachute recovery system failed to deploy and the UAV crashed.
The air vehicle sustained A category damage.
The investigation is focusing on the vehicle's ability to operate in turbulent conditions and drogue chute spring specifications. Additional investigation regarding the training and publications supplied by the contractor is also underway.
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