airazurxtror wrote:What was it doing there in the first place ?
Had Flahaut and/or the Government an authorization of the Belgian Parliament to send it over there ?
Even though I don't like Flahaut personnelly, suggesting that he'd secretly smugle some unarmed and unmanned aircraft to Congo for surveillance purposes against the will of the Belgian governement is a bit over the top!
Picking up a newspaper or watching the news sometime won't kill you...
It seems to be a problem, to keep drones in the air: Crash stirs debate on drone safety: The Predator B, had been crippled when its operator accidentally switched off its engine.
The bullet that hit the plane was examined. Conclusion: only a sniper-riffle could fire such ammo. There are only a few such weapons in circulation.
The enquiry found a member of the Congolese army, who had a sniper-training in South Korea. He wanted to test his riffle.
It is not clear who will pay for the 1 million Euro plane.
Replacement B-Hunter UAV n° 289 has been send to N'Dolo airport (Kinshasa) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This aircraft replaces n° 285 which was shot down during one of its first missions while on approach to its deployment base. The following Belgian Defence UAV's are now operational at N'Dolo providing instant imaging for the European force EUFOR which assists the DRC during the election period: 277, 281, 283 and 289.
