Bomb disposal team recovers military drone that ‘crashed’ near Hillswick

THE FASLANE based bomb disposal team has recovered a military drone from near the beach at Sand Wick, near Hillswick, after it appeared to have crash landed there on Tuesday.

Shetland Coastguard confirmed it received reports of a small aircraft crashing near Hillswick earlier this week.

The local coastguard volunteers went out to investigate and secure the location.

The aircraft is a Banshee target drone, of the type the Royal Navy previously used for test flights near the Hebrides.

According to the Naval Technology website, the experiment flights were carried out by the Royal Navy to evaluate the use of such crewless technology in defending itself against aerial threats such as faster jets and missiles.

The explosive ordnance disposal team (EOD) arrived in Shetland off the ferry on Saturday morning.

A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “A team of Royal Navy bomb disposal experts from the Northern Diving Group arrived in Shetland early this morning to examine an item on a beach near Sand Wick.

“The location was inaccessible by foot so the team launched a rigid inflatable boat to reach the object.

“On inspection, the item was found to be a Banshee target drone.  The drone did not contain any explosives and was of the type used by the Royal Artillery for target practice.

“The divers drained the remaining fuel from the drone and will eventually return it.”