Remember, these drones aren't carrying thousands of pounds of JP4 in their tanks, as an enemy aircraft would be. There are no huge explosions and dramatic disintegrations with these drones. These get hit and usually simply start heading down because they lose power or have a control surface disrupted. I've seen them do vertical dives and I've seen them fly off into the sunset losing altitude.
The floater may have been due to a malfunction of the drone or the missile, or it could have been a rare clean miss or simply not enough shrapnel to get the job done.
I've watched the LAAD Batallion in action and believe me, I would not want to be the pilot who gets caught in their sight.
Don't assume they weren't hit
Remember, these drones aren't carrying thousands of pounds of JP4 in their tanks, as an enemy aircraft would be. There are no huge explosions and dramatic disintegrations with these drones. These get hit and usually simply start heading down because they lose power or have a control surface disrupted. I've seen them do vertical dives and I've seen them fly off into the sunset losing altitude.
The floater may have been due to a malfunction of the drone or the missile, or it could have been a rare clean miss or simply not enough shrapnel to get the job done.
I've watched the LAAD Batallion in action and believe me, I would not want to be the pilot who gets caught in their sight.