Fishermen are known for exaggerating their catches, but anglers near Pensacola, Florida, landed something truly extraordinary — a military drone.
Fishermen who chartered a boat Saturday from Pensacola’s Hot Spot Charters posted a picture of the drone and their catch on Facebook.
The drone was a Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) model that originated from Eglin Air Force Base, about 26 miles northeast of Pensacola.
Base officials told military news site TWZ on Monday that the LUCAS, also called an FLM-136, “impacted the water during routine scheduled testing on the Eglin AFB Range” Thursday.
Daniel Arsenault, the charter boat’s captain, said the drone “looked like a boat was upside down. We thought it was an upside-down skiff or something. So we changed our course and went and checked on it,” according to WEAR-TV.
He said others on the boat, who were active-duty military helicopter pilots, identified the object as a drone.
“I kind of felt confident in picking it up. We brought it back to the dock … then the sheriff’s department here took possession of it, and then the government got it from them,” Mr. Arsenault told CBS News.
The drone helped boost their haul because small fish were using it for cover, he said. The group netted mahi-mahi and tripletail before retrieving the drone, Mr. Arsenault told military news site Task & Purpose.
The peculiar thing about the drone was that it was still in one piece, he added.
The military does “tests out there all the time on different types of unmanned vehicles. It’s not uncommon to find stuff floating. It was just uncommon to find it in such an intact state. That’s the great thing about fishing. You never know what you’re gonna catch,” the charter boat captain said.
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