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I work on the Predator program (which also includes the Reaper) and I can tell you that there's no way the Reaper would have continued it's "mission to target enemies on the ground" without operator input. It is not a fully autonomous aircraft. It can follow an "Operational Mission" which only includes where to fly, at what altitude, and at what speed. All other operations are performed by humans.
When the plane goes "lost link" (losses contact with the pilot) it follows what is known as an "Emergency Mission" which is merely a pathway back to base marked by a series of checkpoints. If the aircraft regains link, (even for a split second) it goes back to flying it's operational mission until it losses link again. Once it losses link again it'll start the emergency mission over again (if it hadn't been updated since it last regained link) starting back at checkpoint number one.
There's a good chance that it had gone lost link, started it's emergency mission and started heading home and then at some point regained link for a moment and then lost it again, thus causing it to turn around and start the emergency mission once again. This is usually a bad scenario because having had to restart it's emergency mission it may not have had enough fuel to complete the emergency mission a second time before making it back to base, thus an imminent crash was coming. The Air Force would rather shoot the plane down (thus destroying all the equipment on the plane) than let it crash and be retrieved by the Afghanistan government or military. The technology is valuable and one that sets the U.S. above all others in military warfare, it must be protected. Reply
When the plane goes "lost link" (losses contact with the pilot) it follows what is known as an "Emergency Mission" which is merely a pathway back to base marked by a series of checkpoints. If the aircraft regains link, (even for a split second) it goes back to flying it's operational mission until it losses link again. Once it losses link again it'll start the emergency mission over again (if it hadn't been updated since it last regained link) starting back at checkpoint number one.
There's a good chance that it had gone lost link, started it's emergency mission and started heading home and then at some point regained link for a moment and then lost it again, thus causing it to turn around and start the emergency mission once again. This is usually a bad scenario because having had to restart it's emergency mission it may not have had enough fuel to complete the emergency mission a second time before making it back to base, thus an imminent crash was coming. The Air Force would rather shoot the plane down (thus destroying all the equipment on the plane) than let it crash and be retrieved by the Afghanistan government or military. The technology is valuable and one that sets the U.S. above all others in military warfare, it must be protected. Reply