U.S. Air Force biggest and fastest drone The Avenger!
Source-LA Times
Source-YLE.FI Finland news site; South Korea wants it's missles now!(link)
South Korea hopes that a shipment of Patriot missiles it purchased from Germany, currently impounded in Finland, will be turned over as soon as possible. The South Korean Ambassador to Helsinki told YLE he believes that the interruption of the shipment was the result of poor communication among the European parties involved.
Long standing arms sales deals between Germany and South Korea got a new twist just before Christmas when the ship carrying the most recent shipment of missiles was held up by Finnish officials when it called at the port of Kotka.
The missile shipment itself was legal, but lacked the transit papers needed to be moved in and out of Finnish territory. The vessel, the Thor Liberty, is still in Kotka and the missiles it was carrying are being stored elsewhere.
South Korean Ambassador Dongsun Park told YLE on Wednesday that his country would like to take delivery of the missiles without further delay.
"The delay has caused some little inconvenience. Of course, we Koreans would like to have them as early as possible for the safety of the country and for peace of the country," said Park.
Communication problems
Ambassador Park speculated that the reasons for the seizure of the missiles by Finnish authorities are to be found in garbled communications.
"It's a European operation up to now. The point of origin is in Europe. It's a European shipping company and the port the materials are in is in Finland. So I think you don't speak the same language, even among Europeans."
The vessel is also carrying a large consignment of explosives. Finnish authorities are investigating whether or not they are military materials. If they are, they as well require the proper transit documents.
According to available information, the explosives were being shipped to a different address in Asia than the missiles. Ambassador Park stressed that South Korea has nothing to do with the explosives aboard the Thor Liberty.
Solely defensive
The news of the Patriot missiles being seized in Finland hit world headlines only a few days after the announcement of the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. However, Ambassador Park denied any connection.
"This is, after all, for peace and stability and even for prosperity in the sense that this is a trade between the EU and Korea. These are purely defensive materials, not any offensive materials. So, good for peace, good for stability, good for our prosperity."
Finnish officials believe it may still be weeks before the Patriot missiles are on their way toward South Korea again. The country's ambassador to Helsinki would like the matter squared away as quickly as possible.
"Koreans are impatient people and very efficient people, but I think Finnish people are more efficient than many Koreans, so we hope for an early delivery".
YLE
Source-Washington Post
wired.com
The U.S. Air Force is sending a single copy of a brand-new stealth drone to Afghanistan. Only maybe not just Afghanistan.
Officially, the General Atomics-made Avenger — a sleek, jet-powered upgrade of the iconic armed Predator and Reaper — is heading to Afghanistan as a combat-capable “test asset.” The Air Force said in a statement that it loves how the Avenger’s “internal weapons bay and four hardpoints on each wing,” will give it “greater flexibility and will accommodate a large selection of next generation sensor and weapons payloads,” as reported by Zach Rosenberg at Flightglobal.
Problem is, you don’t really need those things in Afghanistan. Internal weapons bays, which hide the radar signatures of bombs and missiles, are for stealth: most warplanes don’t have them. And it’s not like the Taliban has been firing radar-guided missiles at NATO aircraft. Besides, there are already dozens of armed drones in Afghanistan. One more isn’t going to make much of a difference.
Which begs the question: Is the 41-foot-long Avenger really meant for Afghanistan? Or is it destined to patrol over Afghanistan’s unruly neighbors, Iran and Pakistan, both of which do have radar-guided missiles? That was a job assigned to the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel before one of those drones crashed in Iran two weeks ago. We’re sure the Air Force has a few more RQ-170s to throw at Iran and Pakistan. After all, the elusive ‘bots have been spotted in Afghanistan, South Korea and Japan. But the Avenger, which debuted just two years ago, is newer and more capable than the Sentinel, which is widely believed to be a product of the early 2000s.
The Avenger reportedly carries a ground-mapping radar and the same ultra-sophisticated cameras as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, making it a perfect candidate for quietly snooping above, say, suspected nuclear facilities or terrorist camps guarded by air-defense radars and missiles. And for a psychological impact, there’s nothing like an advanced, armed stealth drone to put a dent in Iran’s swagger after Tehran captured an apparently intact RQ-170.
To be clear: The Air Force isn’t sending the Avenger to Afghanistan specifically in response to the Iranian drone capture. The flying branch initiated the Avenger purchase back in July, long before we saw the Iranian military on YouTube apparently poking at a dinged-up Sentinel in what appears to be a high school gymnasium.
It’s also not a sure bet that the Avenger would even see action in Afghanistan. The air war over Afghanistan is winding down, big time. NATO warplanes dropped just 310 bombs last month, compared to 866 in November 2010, according to U.S. Central Command. High-tech drone reinforcements are a more natural fit for escalating surveillance operations over Iran and Pakistan than for the Afghanistan war.
The Air Force purchase is apparently the first for the Avenger. The swept-wing General Atomics robot is compatible with the same ground-based control systems as the Predator and Reaper (and possibly the RQ-170, as well). It’s likely the Avenger will simply slot into existing Air Force drone squadrons.
Along with Boeing’s X-45C and Northrop Grumman’s X-47B, the Avenger represents the likely backbone of the Air Force’s and Navy’s future killer-drone fleets. But first, the Avenger will ply its secret trade over Iran and Pakistan Afghanistan. Totally.
PATRIOT MISSLE UPDATE DECEMBER 27TH(LINK BELOW) Finnish website
HELSINKI — A shipment of 69 surface-to-air missiles impounded by Finnish authorities was a legitimate delivery from Germany to South Korea, a German official said Thursday.
The announcement came after Finnish authorities seized the Patriot missiles and 160 tons of explosives on a British-registered cargo ship and detained two Ukrainian crew members on suspicion of violating weapons export laws.
Police said the missiles didn’t have the right transit documents and the explosive picric acid wasn’t properly stored on the M/S Thor Liberty, which docked in Kotka, southern Finland, on Dec. 15.
A spokesman for Germany’s Defense Ministry said the missiles were an official shipment that was fully declared and had all necessary clearings from German authorities.
“Those patriot guided missiles are from the Bundeswehr’s stocks and have been shipped to South Korea” according to an intergovernmental treaty, he said, declining to be named in line with government policy.
He said no explosives were part of the shipment and he didn’t have any information on that part of the impounded cargo.
Finnish officials said the explosives were destined for China. Markku Koskinen, the director of traffic operations at the port of Kotka, said they were deficiently packed in wooden boxes on open pallets and would be moved to metal containers in line with rules on the maritime transport of explosives.
“We will do that as soon as the customs inspectors allow us to,” Koskinen told The Associated Press. “Otherwise, the shipment of explosives was legitimate and can continue on its way to China as soon as it’s safely packed.”
The ship sailed from the north German port of Emden on Dec. 13 and was en route to China, Finnish officials said. It docked in Kotka to pick up a cargo of anchor chains and an old paper machine.
Finnish officials impounded the cargo Wednesday and launched an investigation. Detective Superintendent Timo Virtanen said the ship’s captain and first mate were detained.
“The missiles did not have the appropriate transit papers,” Virtanen said. “We are questioning all the other 11 crew members who are also Ukrainians.”
Klaus Kaartinen, spokesman for the National Bureau of Investigation, said Finnish police and customs would continue their investigation into the cargo.
“Even if the missile cargo is a legitimate shipment, from a Finnish point of view the law has probably been broken because it was not properly declared,” Kaartinen said. “Also, the explosives were stored improperly.”
American-made Patriot missiles are used to counter threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. They are part of the U.S. Army’s weaponry and were extensively used during the 1991 Gulf war.
Manufactured by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Florida, Patriot missiles have been in service in several countries, including Egypt, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and South Korea.
___
Associated Press writer Juergen Baetz in Berlin contributed to this report.
HELSINKI — A shipment of 69 surface-to-air missiles impounded by Finnish authorities was a legitimate delivery from Germany to South Korea, a German official said Thursday.
The announcement came after Finnish authorities seized the Patriot missiles and 160 tons of explosives on a British-registered cargo ship and detained two Ukrainian crew members on suspicion of violating weapons export laws.
Police said the missiles didn’t have the right transit documents and the explosive picric acid wasn’t properly stored on the M/S Thor Liberty, which docked in Kotka, southern Finland, on Dec. 15.
A spokesman for Germany’s Defense Ministry said the missiles were an official shipment that was fully declared and had all necessary clearings from German authorities.
“Those patriot guided missiles are from the Bundeswehr’s stocks and have been shipped to South Korea” according to an intergovernmental treaty, he said, declining to be named in line with government policy.
He said no explosives were part of the shipment and he didn’t have any information on that part of the impounded cargo.
Finnish officials said the explosives were destined for China. Markku Koskinen, the director of traffic operations at the port of Kotka, said they were deficiently packed in wooden boxes on open pallets and would be moved to metal containers in line with rules on the maritime transport of explosives.
“We will do that as soon as the customs inspectors allow us to,” Koskinen told The Associated Press. “Otherwise, the shipment of explosives was legitimate and can continue on its way to China as soon as it’s safely packed.”
The ship sailed from the north German port of Emden on Dec. 13 and was en route to China, Finnish officials said. It docked in Kotka to pick up a cargo of anchor chains and an old paper machine.
Finnish officials impounded the cargo Wednesday and launched an investigation. Detective Superintendent Timo Virtanen said the ship’s captain and first mate were detained.
“The missiles did not have the appropriate transit papers,” Virtanen said. “We are questioning all the other 11 crew members who are also Ukrainians.”
Klaus Kaartinen, spokesman for the National Bureau of Investigation, said Finnish police and customs would continue their investigation into the cargo.
“Even if the missile cargo is a legitimate shipment, from a Finnish point of view the law has probably been broken because it was not properly declared,” Kaartinen said. “Also, the explosives were stored improperly.”
American-made Patriot missiles are used to counter threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. They are part of the U.S. Army’s weaponry and were extensively used during the 1991 Gulf war.
Manufactured by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Florida, Patriot missiles have been in service in several countries, including Egypt, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and South Korea.
___
Associated Press writer Juergen Baetz in Berlin contributed to this report.
Seth Kettleman makes a living buying and selling surplus aircraft machinery on the web. In late November, a strange item popped up on GovDeals.com: an A-12 Avenger II fighter canopy. Kettleman had never heard of the A-12, but he was intrigued so he started Googling. He read that the highly classified A-12 had been canceled in 1991. He also read that the A-12 was canceled before McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics assembled the first aircraft.
Kettleman decided it was worth a gamble, and won an online auction with a $2,300 bid.
After examining the merchandise, Kettleman decided it was the real thing. To his mind, Kettleman now owned the only known artifact of the A-12 programme. Sure, there is a wooden mock-up languishing on the back-lot of a military airport in Forth Worth, Texas, but this canopy may be the real thing. Kettleman has seen small panels of the Lockheed SR-71 sell for more than $500,000 in online auctions. But he doesn't own a small panel. He owns an entire canopy of the A-12 (maybe). [UPDATE: Kettleman says: "The canopy has now been verified as authentic. It was a production unit for the A-12 Avenger II manufactured by McAir (Division of McDonnell Douglas). The canopy must have a hundred or so individual serial numbers and manufacturing data marked on it. These numbers and individual pieces have been verified as authentic parts from the program."
Kettleman's canopy is now for sale on eBay for $620,238. (Note: If you are still looking for our Christmas present, this would be really perfect. Just saying.)
That, of course, assumes Kettleman owns the real thing. And that's where the story gets complicated.
GovDeals told us that the canopy was posted by the aviation department of Purdue University. That's where the canopy has been for more than 15 years. Nobody in Purdue's aviation department knows how it got there. The canopy didn't even belong to the aeronautical engineering department, which operates research wind tunnels. The aviation department teaches students how to become pilots, not design canopies for stealthy fighter jets. One day it just showed up in the back of the hangar, and nobody touched it for more than 15 years. A couple months ago, the department decided to get rid of it, a Purdue spokesman said. They thought about selling it for scrap worth about $700, but decided it may be worth more at auction on the relatively obscure GovDeals site.
Litigation for the A-12 cancellation likely made a lot of lawyers very rich. But nobody will make a better return on the A-12 than Kettleman, if he finds a buyer. He may never snag a $620,000 offer, but he will surely get a lot more than $2,300.
wired.com
The U.S. Air Force is sending a single copy of a brand-new stealth drone to Afghanistan. Only maybe not just Afghanistan.
Officially, the General Atomics-made Avenger — a sleek, jet-powered upgrade of the iconic armed Predator and Reaper — is heading to Afghanistan as a combat-capable “test asset.” The Air Force said in a statement that it loves how the Avenger’s “internal weapons bay and four hardpoints on each wing,” will give it “greater flexibility and will accommodate a large selection of next generation sensor and weapons payloads,” as reported by Zach Rosenberg at Flightglobal.
Problem is, you don’t really need those things in Afghanistan. Internal weapons bays, which hide the radar signatures of bombs and missiles, are for stealth: most warplanes don’t have them. And it’s not like the Taliban has been firing radar-guided missiles at NATO aircraft. Besides, there are already dozens of armed drones in Afghanistan. One more isn’t going to make much of a difference.
Which begs the question: Is the 41-foot-long Avenger really meant for Afghanistan? Or is it destined to patrol over Afghanistan’s unruly neighbors, Iran and Pakistan, both of which do have radar-guided missiles? That was a job assigned to the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel before one of those drones crashed in Iran two weeks ago. We’re sure the Air Force has a few more RQ-170s to throw at Iran and Pakistan. After all, the elusive ‘bots have been spotted in Afghanistan, South Korea and Japan. But the Avenger, which debuted just two years ago, is newer and more capable than the Sentinel, which is widely believed to be a product of the early 2000s.
The Avenger reportedly carries a ground-mapping radar and the same ultra-sophisticated cameras as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, making it a perfect candidate for quietly snooping above, say, suspected nuclear facilities or terrorist camps guarded by air-defense radars and missiles. And for a psychological impact, there’s nothing like an advanced, armed stealth drone to put a dent in Iran’s swagger after Tehran captured an apparently intact RQ-170.
To be clear: The Air Force isn’t sending the Avenger to Afghanistan specifically in response to the Iranian drone capture. The flying branch initiated the Avenger purchase back in July, long before we saw the Iranian military on YouTube apparently poking at a dinged-up Sentinel in what appears to be a high school gymnasium.
It’s also not a sure bet that the Avenger would even see action in Afghanistan. The air war over Afghanistan is winding down, big time. NATO warplanes dropped just 310 bombs last month, compared to 866 in November 2010, according to U.S. Central Command. High-tech drone reinforcements are a more natural fit for escalating surveillance operations over Iran and Pakistan than for the Afghanistan war.
The Air Force purchase is apparently the first for the Avenger. The swept-wing General Atomics robot is compatible with the same ground-based control systems as the Predator and Reaper (and possibly the RQ-170, as well). It’s likely the Avenger will simply slot into existing Air Force drone squadrons.
Along with Boeing’s X-45C and Northrop Grumman’s X-47B, the Avenger represents the likely backbone of the Air Force’s and Navy’s future killer-drone fleets. But first, the Avenger will ply its secret trade over Iran and Pakistan Afghanistan. Totally.
Source-BBC NEWS: Finland finds load of American" Patriot Missles" bound for China on German vessel???
Finland 'finds Patriot missiles' on China-bound ship
The Thor Liberty is docked in Kotka
The Finnish authorities have impounded an Isle of Man-flagged ship bound for China with undeclared missiles and explosives, officials say.
Police are questioning the crew of the MS Thor Liberty after what were described as 69 Patriot anti-missile missiles were found aboard.
Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen said the missiles were marked "fireworks".
The MS Thor Liberty had docked in the Finnish port of Kotka after leaving Germany last week.
Dock workers became suspicious after finding explosives poorly stored on open pallets, and the missiles were then found in containers marked "fireworks".
The managing director of the ship's owner, Thorco Shipping, expressed surprise. Thomas Mikkelsen told AFP news agency from Denmark that he was unaware of the matter.
Another company official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the ship had been detained in Finland and said the missiles could have been loaded on to the vessel by mistake, AFP adds.
Police did not confirm Finnish media reports that the ship had also been scheduled to stop in South Korea, Reuters news agency reports.
'Quite unusual'
The MS Thor Liberty left port in Emden, northern Germany, on 13 December and docked two days later in Kotka, southern Finland, to pick up a cargo of anchor chains, said Finnish Customs spokesman Petri Lounatmaa.
Patriot missile systems are supplied to US allies
It was bound for the Chinese port of Shanghai but there was no indication for whom the military cargo was destined.
Routine checks by Finland's traffic safety authority revealed a load of up to 160 tonnes of improperly packed nitroguanidine, a low-sensitivity explosive with a high detonation speed.
"Actually in our investigation at the moment, we have got the information that we found 69 Patriot missiles on the ship and around 160 tonnes of explosives," said Detective Superintendent Timo Virtanen from the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.
Interior Minister Rasanen said she had not heard of a similar case.
"Of course, there are legal transports of weapons or defence material [through Finland] but in this case the cargo was marked as containing fireworks," she told Finnish media. "That is quite unusual."
Mr Lounatmaa said customs officials and police had launched a joint investigation into a possible breach of Finnish export and weapons trading laws.
He said that the crew of about 32 were being questioned.
Patriot missiles, designed by the US company Raytheon, are supplied to "US and allied forces", according to the company's website. South Korea is among states which deploy them.
Finland 'finds Patriot missiles' on China-bound ship
The Thor Liberty is docked in Kotka
The Finnish authorities have impounded an Isle of Man-flagged ship bound for China with undeclared missiles and explosives, officials say.
Police are questioning the crew of the MS Thor Liberty after what were described as 69 Patriot anti-missile missiles were found aboard.
Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen said the missiles were marked "fireworks".
The MS Thor Liberty had docked in the Finnish port of Kotka after leaving Germany last week.
Dock workers became suspicious after finding explosives poorly stored on open pallets, and the missiles were then found in containers marked "fireworks".
The managing director of the ship's owner, Thorco Shipping, expressed surprise. Thomas Mikkelsen told AFP news agency from Denmark that he was unaware of the matter.
Another company official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the ship had been detained in Finland and said the missiles could have been loaded on to the vessel by mistake, AFP adds.
Police did not confirm Finnish media reports that the ship had also been scheduled to stop in South Korea, Reuters news agency reports.
'Quite unusual'
The MS Thor Liberty left port in Emden, northern Germany, on 13 December and docked two days later in Kotka, southern Finland, to pick up a cargo of anchor chains, said Finnish Customs spokesman Petri Lounatmaa.
Patriot missile systems are supplied to US allies
It was bound for the Chinese port of Shanghai but there was no indication for whom the military cargo was destined.
Routine checks by Finland's traffic safety authority revealed a load of up to 160 tonnes of improperly packed nitroguanidine, a low-sensitivity explosive with a high detonation speed.
"Actually in our investigation at the moment, we have got the information that we found 69 Patriot missiles on the ship and around 160 tonnes of explosives," said Detective Superintendent Timo Virtanen from the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.
Interior Minister Rasanen said she had not heard of a similar case.
"Of course, there are legal transports of weapons or defence material [through Finland] but in this case the cargo was marked as containing fireworks," she told Finnish media. "That is quite unusual."
Mr Lounatmaa said customs officials and police had launched a joint investigation into a possible breach of Finnish export and weapons trading laws.
He said that the crew of about 32 were being questioned.
Patriot missiles, designed by the US company Raytheon, are supplied to "US and allied forces", according to the company's website. South Korea is among states which deploy them.
Source-Wired.com
It’s Not a UFO, Just a Killer Drone for an Aircraft Carrier
By Spencer Ackerman Email Author December 21, 2011 | 1:49 pm |
Follow @attackerman
Note to the Navy: When trucking a giant flying robot with a rounded fuselage across the country, people are going to think they’re looking at an artifact from Area 51.
As the local news coverage above shows, residents of Cowley County, Kansas, were freaked out to see a truck rumbling down U.S. 77 towing what looks a whole lot like a 32-foot spaceship. “People were calling in saying, ‘Oh they think they found a flying saucer,’” Donetta Godsey of the Winfield Daily Courier told the ABC News affiliate.
Alas, the cargo wasn’t anything otherworldly. Just a trussed-up, wingless version of the Navy’s futuristic killer drone, the X-47B, which the Navy hopes will one day be the world’s first robot capable of landing on an aircraft carrier. For the past few days, it’s hitched a rather terrestrial ride from California’s Edwards Air Force Base to Patuxent River, Maryland.
“Oh, you mean the UFO?” Brooks McKinney, a spokesman for X-47B manufacturer Northrop Grumman, told Danger Room.
McKinney’s both embarrassed and amused by the UFO confusion. “They effectively shrink-wrapped the rest of the fuselage after taking the wings off the drone for the cross-country trek,” he said. “Because it was 32 feet wide, it could only travel certain hours of the day because we blocked off the road. That led to lots of weird stories, like we had abandoned [the X-47B] on the side of the road.”
The X-47B arrived safely at Pax River, the Navy’s big aviation testbed, on Tuesday. There, it’ll undergo tests to ensure it can perform its signature intended maneuver: taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier — and with those complex maneuvers eventually directed by a mere mouse click.
But that’s a long way off. During the last year at Edwards, the X-47B had its first flight — there’s even a music video to commemorate the moment — after years of development that almost didn’t bear fruit. Still, the drone isn’t expected to actually join the Navy’s fleet of aircraft until 2018.
And when it does, it might still get mistaken for a UFO.
“When we first saw it with its wheels up, it had kind of that dreamy spaceship look anyway, so it’s kinda cool,” McKinney said. “If we were really smart we would have rigged it up with purple lights that blink and pulsate.”
It’s Not a UFO, Just a Killer Drone for an Aircraft Carrier
By Spencer Ackerman Email Author December 21, 2011 | 1:49 pm |
Follow @attackerman
Note to the Navy: When trucking a giant flying robot with a rounded fuselage across the country, people are going to think they’re looking at an artifact from Area 51.
As the local news coverage above shows, residents of Cowley County, Kansas, were freaked out to see a truck rumbling down U.S. 77 towing what looks a whole lot like a 32-foot spaceship. “People were calling in saying, ‘Oh they think they found a flying saucer,’” Donetta Godsey of the Winfield Daily Courier told the ABC News affiliate.
Alas, the cargo wasn’t anything otherworldly. Just a trussed-up, wingless version of the Navy’s futuristic killer drone, the X-47B, which the Navy hopes will one day be the world’s first robot capable of landing on an aircraft carrier. For the past few days, it’s hitched a rather terrestrial ride from California’s Edwards Air Force Base to Patuxent River, Maryland.
“Oh, you mean the UFO?” Brooks McKinney, a spokesman for X-47B manufacturer Northrop Grumman, told Danger Room.
McKinney’s both embarrassed and amused by the UFO confusion. “They effectively shrink-wrapped the rest of the fuselage after taking the wings off the drone for the cross-country trek,” he said. “Because it was 32 feet wide, it could only travel certain hours of the day because we blocked off the road. That led to lots of weird stories, like we had abandoned [the X-47B] on the side of the road.”
The X-47B arrived safely at Pax River, the Navy’s big aviation testbed, on Tuesday. There, it’ll undergo tests to ensure it can perform its signature intended maneuver: taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier — and with those complex maneuvers eventually directed by a mere mouse click.
But that’s a long way off. During the last year at Edwards, the X-47B had its first flight — there’s even a music video to commemorate the moment — after years of development that almost didn’t bear fruit. Still, the drone isn’t expected to actually join the Navy’s fleet of aircraft until 2018.
And when it does, it might still get mistaken for a UFO.
“When we first saw it with its wheels up, it had kind of that dreamy spaceship look anyway, so it’s kinda cool,” McKinney said. “If we were really smart we would have rigged it up with purple lights that blink and pulsate.”
Source-ABC NEWS 7 CORAL GABLES FLORIDA
Residents in Cowley County, Kansas are still talking about a mystery craft, seen being towed down US 77 Monday.
Sitting inside Lindly's Appliance Store, Kammi Root is used to seeing large machinery towed down US 77. But what she saw Monday afternoon is something she won't soon forget.
"There was this funny sphere that went through on this big trailer and my first thought was, 'That looks like a UFO,'" said Root.
A huge 32 foot craft, wrapped in tarp, was as mysterious as the transport company who called Sheriff Don Read for help.
"They told us that it was an aircraft and that they had explored other ways to transport it but this was the best way for them to do it and they asked us not to say a whole lot about it," said Read.
After all, the massive load's shape would certainly draw enough attention on its own.
"People were calling in saying, 'Oh they think they found a flying saucer. It looks like a flying saucer to us and we don't know for sure what it is,'" said Donetta Godsey with the Winfield Daily Courier.
For nearly an hour, officers helped maneuver the craft through Cowley County.
"The biggest thing that we had to deal with was down at the roundabout we had to remove a bunch of signs and markers because the load was so long it couldn't make the corner," said Read.
Meanwhile, onlookers struggled to wipe the shock from their faces and the questions from their minds.
"What was that funny thing that was on that trailer that looked like something from somewhere else?" said Root.
So what in the world was it? Undersheriff Bill Mueller says it was an experimental aircraft from Northrop Grumman, possibly a new unmanned drone. It still has a ways to go. Its final destination is Maryland.
Residents in Cowley County, Kansas are still talking about a mystery craft, seen being towed down US 77 Monday.
Sitting inside Lindly's Appliance Store, Kammi Root is used to seeing large machinery towed down US 77. But what she saw Monday afternoon is something she won't soon forget.
"There was this funny sphere that went through on this big trailer and my first thought was, 'That looks like a UFO,'" said Root.
A huge 32 foot craft, wrapped in tarp, was as mysterious as the transport company who called Sheriff Don Read for help.
"They told us that it was an aircraft and that they had explored other ways to transport it but this was the best way for them to do it and they asked us not to say a whole lot about it," said Read.
After all, the massive load's shape would certainly draw enough attention on its own.
"People were calling in saying, 'Oh they think they found a flying saucer. It looks like a flying saucer to us and we don't know for sure what it is,'" said Donetta Godsey with the Winfield Daily Courier.
For nearly an hour, officers helped maneuver the craft through Cowley County.
"The biggest thing that we had to deal with was down at the roundabout we had to remove a bunch of signs and markers because the load was so long it couldn't make the corner," said Read.
Meanwhile, onlookers struggled to wipe the shock from their faces and the questions from their minds.
"What was that funny thing that was on that trailer that looked like something from somewhere else?" said Root.
So what in the world was it? Undersheriff Bill Mueller says it was an experimental aircraft from Northrop Grumman, possibly a new unmanned drone. It still has a ways to go. Its final destination is Maryland.
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