NATO said it lost radar contact with a drone helicopter conducting a reconnaissance flight over Libya on Tuesday, denying a Libyan television report that one of its attack helicopters was shot down.
The alliance’s command centre in Naples, Italy, lost track of the unmanned autonomous helicopter drone at 0720 GMT in the central coast area of Libya, said NATO military spokesman Mike Bracken.
It is the first time that NATO has lost any aircraft since taking command of operations on March 31, Bracken told a news conference via videolink from Naples.
A US F-15 crashed in Libya on March 21, when the mission was conducted by a coalition led by the United States, France and Britain.
“This drone helicopter was performing intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance over Libya to monitor pro-Gaddafi forces threatening the civilian population,” Bracken said.
The military alliance was looking into the reason behind the incident.
“NATO confirms it has not lost any attack helicopters during Operation Unified Protector and will provide more information on the incident as it becomes available,” Bracken added.
Libyan state television on Tuesday showed footage of a burnt-out helicopter it identified as an Apache, reportedly downed near Zliten, 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of the capital.