An unarmed US Navy drone which was found off the coast of Masbate province on Sunday was recovered by the San Jacinto town police force and turned over to the Philippine Navy. The US Embassy said that this type of vehicle is not armed and not used for surveillance. GMA News/PNP-MPS
A drone believed to be from the United States Navy was found floating off the waters of Masbate on Sunday morning, baffling authorities, including the US Embassy.
"We are trying to confirm this interpretation and to determine how and when it may have landed in the sea," said embassy spokesman Tina Malone in a statement on Monday.
Capt. Rommel Jason Galang, deputy commander of the Naval Forces Southern Luzon, said the drone was brought to the shore by the diver who found it with the help of local fishermen.
The US Embassy, however, is verifying if the drone belongs to the US military.
“We are aware of reports that an apparently US-made unmanned aerial vehicle was recovered in the waters off of Masbate this weekend," Malone said. "The recovered vehicle appears to be of the sort that is used as an air defense target in training exercises.”
Malone added that the type of drone found off Masbate "is not armed and not used for surveillance."
A police report said the “US-made aerial dronean unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)” was a model BQM-74E Chukar III with a length of 12 ft. 11 inches, a wingspan of 5 ft. 9 inches, and height of 2 ft. 4 inches.
According to the website Northrop Grunman Corporation, Chukar III aerial target is used as a threat simulator for weapons training. It said its primary mission is to "emulate enemy tactical cruise missiles or fighter/strike aircraft."
VFA Commission executive director Edilberto Adan said the Chukar III is usually towed by an aircraft.
He said the drone may have fallen somewhere else but was carried to the Masbate by the waves since such aerial practice is not done in the Philippines.
"It is not determined where it came from. We are not sure where it came, it may have been drifted by the waves," Adan told GMA News Online in a phone interview.
In a March 2012 Agence France-Presse interview, President Benigno Aquino III said the Philippines only allows US drones to conduct reconnaissance flights over Philippine territory. Strikes from these unmanned vehicles are banned.
When asked whether the Philippines would allow, or had allowed, US drones to drop bombs, Aquino said that would violate a ban on the American forces from participating in combat operations.
About 600 US forces have been rotating in Mindanao since 2002 to help train local troops to deal with Islamic militants. However, Masbate, where the drone was found, is many hundreds of kilometers from Mindanao and no US troops are known to operate there.
One major security problem in Masbate is the support there for communists who have been waging a decades-long rebellion that continues to claim dozens of lives every year.
The drone was brought to San Jacinto Municipal Police Station before it was turned over to the Philippine Navy.
Asked what was the US drone doing in Masbate, Galang said: “Everything is just factual. We do not want to give any interpretation. Actually that’s the same question we are asking.” — with Michaela del Callar and Agence France-Presse/KBK, GMA News
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