On October 1, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) uncovered the wreckage of a drone in the governorate of al-Hasakah.
The wreckage was found near the town of Ain al-Abd, 12 km to the east of Tell Tamer in the northern countryside of the governorate. The circumstances surrounding the drone’s crash remain unclear.
The drone was identified as a U.S.-made “AAI RQ-7 Shadow”. The U.S.-led coalition is known to be operating this type of tactical drones over northeastern Syria as well as Iraq.
Click to see full-size image. Source: npasyria.com
Click to see full-size image. Source: npasyria.com
The RQ-7 Shadow was developed for reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition and battle damage assessment. The drone has an operational range of 109 km and an endurance of 6 to 9 hours.
Currently, the primary load of the aircraft is the Israeli Aircraft Industries POP300 optical system, which consists of a forward-looking infrared camera, a daytime TV camera with a near-infrared filter and a laser pointer.
The U.S.-led coalition lost several RQ-7s during its military campaign against ISIS in northeastern Syria and Iraq. Some were shot down by the terrorist group. The drone found near Tell Tamer may have crashed a while ago.
