NINILCHIK — An ultra-endurance drone about the size of a small aircraft crashed Wednesday morning along a beach near Ninilchik during a military training exercise, according to aviation authorities.

The Vanilla Unmanned drone, which has a 36-foot wingspan and is designed for days-long endurance flights, went down around 7 a.m. after losing engine power.

“It experienced an engine failure, or some type of loss of power,” said Clint Johnson, Alaska Region Chief for the National Transportation Safety Board, in an interview. “They were making an emergency landing to the beach there by Ninilchik, and unfortunately, during that landing the airplane hit a bluff. For the most part, it suffered substantial damage. The NTSB is investigating.”

Johnson said the agency is still in the early stages of

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