Overview
- Creech Air Force Base confirmed an unmanned aircraft assigned to the 432nd Wing crashed Sept. 23 on public land east of Area 51 and reported no injuries.
- On Oct. 31, KLAS and the Daily Mail published new accounts, including monitored radio traffic referring to an "asset" down and a "UAV ... with ordnance."
- Witnesses described rapid roadblocks, armed patrols and a helicopter with a recovery basket, and the FAA imposed a temporary flight restriction that expired Oct. 1.
- Follow-up visits documented plowed access roads, burned Joshua trees and buried debris, while the Air Force says later-found items included unrelated fragments and an inert training bomb placed after the crash.
- The Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the FBI opened a joint probe into suspected tampering after an Oct. 3 survey, and officials have not identified the aircraft model as cleanup concluded Sept. 27.