THE PENTAGON — Department of Defense officials confirmed Sunday that Predator drone FYQ-7709, which has been implicated in an alleged missile strike on a Pakistan wedding that killed dozens of innocent civilians, has had a history of violent incidents throughout its 7-year career.
“7709 has had a series of incidents, has been counseled on them, and even attended anger management classes at one point during its last deployment,” said one senior defense official, who asked to remain anonymous since the investigation into the wedding strike is ongoing.
FYQ-7709 is a General Atomics-manufactured MQ-1L or “Reaper” model, a configuration which allows the UAV to be used for both reconnaissance and missile strikes.
