Vanilla, an ultra long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, awaits deployment in support of Valiant Shield 2024 on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, June 13, 2024. (ZaBarr Jones/U.S. Army)
(Tribune News Service) — An ultra-endurance drone roughly the size of a small plane crashed along the beach near Ninilchik, Alaska, on Wednesday morning, according to aviation authorities.
The crash involved an aircraft with a 36-foot wingspan known as Vanilla Unmanned, built for dayslong endurance flights and involved in several military flights including some in Alaska in recent years.
The drone was participating in an ongoing military exercise in Alaska, Arctic Edge 2025, as part of “ongoing experimentation and technology demonstrations in the Arctic,” Becky Farmer, U.S. Northern Command spokesperson, wrote in an email.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the crash.
The drone’s operator reported losing contact with it around 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to Clint Johnson, the NTSB’s Alaska chief. It was found crashed on the beach after losing engine power and hitting the bluffs that line Cook Inlet in the area, he said.
The drone was substantially damaged, Johnson said.
The craft originated from Kenai and was returning to Kenai for a scheduled landing prior to “the controlled forced landing,” Farmer said.
Each Vanilla Unmanned unit costs around $2 million, according to a report by drone news website Drone XL.
The registered owner of the drone that crashed is listed as VU Holdings LLC, according to a Federal Aviation Administration preliminary report posted Thursday.
A Maryland company called Platform Aerospace became the sole owner and operator of Vanilla Unmanned in 2020, according to a press release that described the aircraft as a “world-record holding, ultra-long endurance Unmanned Aerial System.” Representatives at Platform Aerospace did not return messages Thursday.
Vanilla in 2021 broke a world record for an unrefueled, internal combustion endurance flight of an unmanned aircraft, flying continuously for just over eight days. Platform Aerospace partnered with the 412th Test Wing’s Emerging Technologies Combined Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base to launch the aircraft from a dry lake bed.
The company last year said Vanilla completed an Arctic flight campaign for an unidentified U.S. Department of Defense customer, operating out of Deadhorse.
The drone flew two flights totaling more than 65 hours within the Arctic Circle, the company said, including over 500 miles toward the North Pole and back in 17 hours, followed by multiple 200-mile laps for another 22 hours, all without refueling. The flights involved data collection including measuring the potential for icing conditions, according to a release.
Last year, Vanilla was “trialled in the Indo-Pacific region during Valiant Shield 24 at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam,” according to the British Forces Broadcasting Service Forces News. The drone was being tested for its potential to supply airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to U.S. armed forces, the site said.
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