Thursday, June 14, 2012

X-47 Causes Quite A Stir On The Beltway

Not to worry, aliens aren't landing in Maryland. It's just the transportation of an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle.

MSNBC.com: Military clears up Beltway UFO mystery

On Wednesday night, Facebook and Twitter users went wild over sightings of a saucer-shaped vessel being towed on local highways. The buzz called to mind the frenzy in 1947 Roswell, albeit in a much more modern way.

Drivers spotted the craft on I-270 and on the Beltway as it was pulled behind a tractor trailer.

But we can take the "unidentified" out of "unidentified flying object." (And yes, we realize that it wasn't actually flying, either.) The military has confirmed to NBC News affiliate News4 that the 82-foot-long craft is an unmanned military aircraft, known as an X-47B.

Ah well, the military spokesperson lost a great opportunity to say "Sorry that's classified, I could tell you what it was but then I'd have to kill you".

Opportunities lost.

Perhaps the best comment ever to come out of the brouhaha:

"Don't worry, that's not an alien spacecraft, just a flying military robot. Totally normal sentence in 2012. I love the future," Ben Jacobs tweeted.

Nicely said.

1 comment:

Scott said...

Was it armed with the PU36 explosive space modulator? Did they have Marvin the Martian trussed up in the chase car?

It was probably the drone that crashed in a swamp this week.