In a bit of sensationalist headlining, a few news articles noted the Defense Department report blasting the acquisition program of the Navy’s MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter.

According to a June 24 report from the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation, the critical error came when the drone’s operator accidentally pressed the spacebar with a wire from his headset — launching the self-destruct mechanism on the vehicle.

As the articles later note, there’s no such thing as a single-button self-destruct.

The report itself delivers a scathing summary of the program, noting it failed all 10 of its test flights (including the one that flew to Washington, DC, by itself).  Northrop Grumman took issue with some parts of the report, apparently because a hardware fix not covered by the report has eliminated most of the issues.  A Fire Scout also reportedly crashed in Libya and has been in use in Afghanistan for some time.

The article concludes with perhaps the most awkwardly (or ironically) set of paired sentences:

The aircraft could become a $2.8 billion program incapable of providing ground troops with time-sensitive intelligence.

The Navy plans to buy up to 168 Fire Scouts.