USS Chancellorsville Drone Accident Injures Navy Sailors

A USS Chancellorsville drone accident resulted in injuries to multiple Navy sailors aboard the ship.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, unmanned fighter jet drones like the Navy X-47B are being deployed for the first time this year. (And Batman is even rumored to be using drones in Man of Steel 2.)

One of these Navy drone carriers had their first successful landings and various aspects of the unmanned drone are being tested aboard the USS George H.W. Bush and the USS Harry S. Truman. But the the USS Chancellorsville was testing combat weapons systems off the coast of Point Mugu when an unmanned drone being used for radar tracking lost control and slammed into the side of the ship:

“No sailors were seriously injured, but two sailors were treated for minor burns. The ship remains capable of operations, however it did sustain some damage and will return to its homeport of San Diego to have the damage assessed. The Navy is investigating the cause of the malfunction.”

The USS Chancellorsville is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser commissioned in 1989 and is part of the Ronald Reagan Strike Group. It’s designed to be capable of attacking the air, the ground, and even underwater using torpedoes, deck guns, and missiles.

The US Navy eventually confirmed what type of drone was involved in the USS Chancellorsville drone accident. It wasn’t one of the General Atomics Reaper or Predator drones, which is what people are used to seeing in the movies. Instead, it was a Northrop Grumman BQM-74 UAV that measured 13 feet long with a wingspan of almost six feet.

Although there are literally hundreds of drones, or UAVs, out there it’s obvious the drone was one of the larger versions since it managed to punch a man-sized hole through the armored steel plating of the USS Chancellorsville.

Because of the USS Chancellorsville drone accident the ship is scheduled to return to its home port of San Diego ahead of schedule.