DC UFO revealed to be unmanned military vehicle
On Wednesday night, Facebook and Twitter users went wild over sightings of a saucer-shaped vessel being towed on local Washington D.C. highways. The buzz called to mind the “War of the Worlds” or a 1947 Roswell.
Twitter/Juliee London
Drivers spotted the “Alien” craft on I-270 and on the Beltway as it was pulled behind a tractor trailer.
The military has confirmed to News4 that the 82-foot-long craft is an unmanned military aircraft, known as an X-47B drone.
Maryland State Police towed it on a flatbed trailer from Garrett County, Maryland to Naval Air Station Patuxent River — but even they didn’t know what it was at the time, police said.
The drone was towed by a series of vehicles all the way from California, which “always attracts attention,” a military spokesperson told NBC4’s Melissa Mollet.
The craft is the second of its kind to come to the area. An X-47B arrived in late 2011.
“In the coming months, you can expect to see the X-47B flying over the base and surrounding area along the Chesapeake Bay,” said Matt Funk, lead test engineer.
The military is also cautioning people who may see the drones flying around in coming months — be careful and pay attention to the road if you’re driving when you see them!
“Don’t worry, that’s not an alien spacecraft, just a flying military robot. [That was a] totally normal sentence in 2012. I love the future,” area resident Ben Jacobs tweeted Wednesday night.
The X-47B is the first unmanned vehicle designed to take off and land on an aircraft carrier. As part of the program’s demonstration, the X-47B will perform arrested landings and catapult launches at Pax to validate its ability to conduct precision approaches to the carrier. The base is one of only a few sites in the world where the Navy can run performance tests on aircraft-carrier catapult operations at a land-based facility with flight test and engineering support resources not available on a ship.
X-47Bs Photo/Defensetech
I think Marry Land State police is very conscious for his work. My opinion is we should always be careful and pay attention on the road.