Yeah, I think the media and all involved don't know what they are talking about. And the military is like sure if you say it's a drone then your right, it's a drone....hahahaha.
From the only pictures available, it looks to me like a tow target. When I was in the Mil, we used these all the time during ocean ops to test ship's Phalanx systems. It's towed behind the aircraft, the plane flies past a military vessel and then the Phalanx engages the tow target as if it's an actual missile threat.
Obviously the target fell in the water and some fishermen ran across it:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03 ... -keys?lite
Phalanx system:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t8ZpvW0WMo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IOeIbj2GEc