The aircraft landed in a secured, uninhabited area, the General Command of the Armed Forces reported. The landing site has been secured by the services, and the Military Police investigated the incident.
On Monday evening, the Armed Forces General Command reported that
“an unarmed MQ9 Reaper unmanned aircraft of the U.S. Air Force in Europe performing a scheduled quarterly training exercise at the Mirosławiec airfield lost communications with the base.”
“The drone was to test and perform landing approaches at the Miroslawiec airfield using the so-called automatic take-off and landing system,” Ireneusz Nowak, the Air Force Inspector, said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
The aircraft was performing a flight from a base in Romania, and was supposed to come back after completing the task in Poland, Nowak added.
The inspector pointed out that Polish services were informed in advance to prepare for the emergency landing.
“There were no munitions or fuel onboard... Everything was under control,” Nowak said, adding that the Polish military services had managed to locate the aircraft nine minutes after touch-down in a specially designated military area.
Russian interferience
According to Gen. Waldemar Skrzypczak, the drone’s emergency landing was the result of signal interference.
“We are aware of the fact that the Russians are conducting an operation in the West Pomeranian and southern Baltic region, disrupting all possible signals,” the General told commercial station Radio RMF24.
“This drone has alternative systems. When it has a lost signal, it can switch to autonomous guidance and land on its own in a place previously indicated by the pilots,” said Gen. Skrzypczak.
The military officer stressed that pilots of civilian aircraft have also spoken of signal interference in the Baltic region.
