LAVACA, Ark. — Witnesses told police they saw a military drone crash inside of Lavaca city limits Tuesday (Aug. 25) afternoon.
Crews searched the area and recovered the drone near the Lavaca Senior Center just after 12:30 p.m.
The drone came from Fort Chaffee, a military base near the city. It's an RQ7 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, weighing 460 pounds and has a 20-foot wingspan. It belongs to the Arkansas Army National Guard 39th Infantry Brigade, who is currently training at Fort Chaffee.
There were no weapons attached to the drone. It's an observation drone, according to Capt. Pevehouse with the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office.
An investigation is currently underway into what caused the drone to crash.
People near the Lavaca Public Schools reported seeing the drone go down, but it did not disrupt classes or come close to any of the campuses.
According to a press release from the Arkansas National Guard, soldiers were remotely piloting an RQ-7 Shadow on a routine training mission over Fort Chaffee when they lost contact with the UAV.
The Arkansas National Guard says it does not fly the RQ-7 purposely off the installation.
The RQ-7 proceeded outside the perimeter of Fort Chaffee and crashed a short time later.
An Army National Guard aviation investigation team has secured the mishap site and is recovering the aircraft.
Military Drone That Crashed In Lavaca
