People in the D.C. area are buzzing after images started popping up online showing what several believed to be a ‘UFO’ in transport along the Capitol Beltway.
The spotting took place around 11:00 p.m. Wednesday when drivers first saw the craft becoming hauled on a flatbed truck on I-270, and then again down I-495.
An official at Northrop Grumman confirmed to a TV station on Thursday that the craft was actually an X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System.
They say the unmanned drone was getting transported from Edwards Air Force Base in California to the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland for testing.
It wasn’t the first time this style of aircraft had been mistaken for a ‘UFO’ although becoming transported. Last year, residents of Cowley County, Kansas made a similar mistake.
DefenseTech.org reported that last year, engineers practiced aircraft carrier take-offs and landings with the drone on a strip of runway at Patuxent Station that is painted to resemble a carrier’s flight deck.
Sources and more information:
• Drone causes ‘UFO’ panic on D.C. highways
(THE BLAZE) Under the cloak of darkness a strangely shaped vessel was transported on Washington, D.C.’s Beltway, causing some to question if it was a UFO. Around 11 p.m. Wednesday evening, reports of a disc-shaped object carried on a flatbed truck making its way along I-270 and I-495 escorted by police began causing a ruckus on Twitter, MyFoxDC…
• X-47Bs Strolling Around WDC Cause Uproar as UFOs
People in the D.C. area are buzzing after pictures began popping up online showing what many believed to be a ‘UFO’ in transport along the Capitol Beltway. Here is a couple on the ground, the ones causing the stir were being hauled on a flatbed truck, on it’s way to Pax River air station for testing. X-47B The spotting took place around 11:00 p.m.