Unmanned aircraft crush worldwide enemies – from Nevada
By Layer 8 on Mon, 07/16/07 - 12:49pm.
The first unmanned attack squadron in aviation history will arrive in Iraq today looking to deliver 500-pound bombs and Hellfire missiles to the enemy - all from the comfort of a US Air Force base in Nevada.
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper can be controlled via satellite link thousands of miles away from operational areas. The planes are launched locally, in this case Iraq and Afghanistan, but can be controlled by a pilot and sensor operator sitting at computer consoles in a ground station, or they can be "handed off" via satellite signals to pilots and sensor operators in Nevada's Creech Air Force Base or elsewhere.
The MQ-9 Reaper is the Air Force's first hunter-killer unmanned aircraft. It is the big brother to the highly successful and sometimes controversial Predator aircraft, which General Atomics said this week had flown over 300,000 flight hours, with over 80% of that time spent in combat.
The company said Predator series aircraft have flown an average of 8,200 hours per month over the past six months while maintaining the highest operational readiness rates in the U.S. military aircraft inventory. The MQ-9 Reaper is twice as fast as the Predator - it has a 900-horsepower turbo-prop engine, compared to the 119-horsepower Predator engine - and can carry far more ordnance - 14 Hellfire missiles as opposed to two.
At five tons gross weight, the Reaper is four times heavier than the Predator. Its size - 36 feet long, with a 66-foot wingspan - is comparable to the profile of the Air Force's workhorse A-10 attack plane. It can fly twice as fast and twice as high - 25,000ft compared to 50,000ft - as the Predator.
According to the Air Force, the MQ-9 Reaper will employ sensors to find, fix, track and target critical emerging time sensitive targets. The Air Force is developing the ability to operate multiple aircraft from a single ground station, in effect, multiplying the overall combat effectiveness over the battlefield.
General Atomics has built at least nine of the MQ-9s at a cost of $69 million per set of four aircraft, with ground equipment. The Air Force's 432nd Wing, a UAV unit formally established May 1, is to eventually fly 60 Reapers and 160 Predators. The numbers to be assigned to Iraq and Afghanistan will be classified, the Associated Press says.
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- Layer 8 is written by Michael Cooney, an online news editor with Network World
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EMP shielding
It's called optoisolation
RE: To be completely shielded
Why not just use an optical (laser) uplink to a satellite? Even if it's only a backup link, EMP would have no effect on it.
Bots vs bots is one thing,
Bots vs bots is one thing, but this ISN'T bots vs bots. This is bots vs humans - the majority of whom are civilians; fact!
This will lead to even greater losses of life, mainly innocent civilian life. There are already bots being developed and deployed to replace infantry in extremely dangerous situations (where IED's are suspected for instance).
As someone once said (I think Arthur C Clarke): "I don't know what kind of weapons we'll use to fight World War 3, but we'll fight World War 4 with sticks and stones".
Perhaps we should follow Costa Rica's example where it's against the law to form a permanent military (wait for blinkered militaristic responses...! heh)
In a conflict such as in the
In a conflict such as in the middle east, one not wearing a miliitary uniform doesn't imply civilian. The otherway around applies as well. Cowards hidding behind civilians in schools, mosques, hospitals, etc... Who's fault is it?
I mean they build schools rigged with IEDs built in... Seriously!
It's called guerilla warefare and how do you fight it? Shit happens, the same as with street gangs in the US.
BTW, I'm North America, but not from the USA.
Whoa, an intelligent point.
Whoa, an intelligent point.
Hard to create more civilian casualties
Than a firebombing from WWII. Modern nukes can, of course, but back then, no.
From the "more bang for the bucks" department, a handful of box cutters killed an awful lot of civilians a couple years ago.
Or how about a truck, some propane, gasoline and a couple cases of nails? Seems very effective at killing random people, to me.
Without the use of force amplifiers like existing airplanes and high density office buildings or marketplaces, then you can look at the machetes in Rawanda as being incredibly successful at killing civilians.
Don't point fingers at the weapons that cause civilian deaths. By many measures, the weapons of the world powers are becoming better at being effective at only killing combatants.
Instead look at the conditions that cause people to want to kill each other. Wars, by one name or other, have been with us for thousands of years. you want peace? Work for justice.
Very well put and I fully
Very well put and I fully agree.
Sad that too many people seem to think most people in the military enjoy killing. Most don't, even those that act liek they do usualy don't. It's macho thing for some to act a certain way.
In most cases, when non-comm are involved that soldier's life will be changed forever. That's why most arm services don't allow women in combat.
Typo -- I ment non-com. as
Typo -- I ment non-com. as in non-combatant
RE: Bots vs bots is one thing,
Oh its a fact huh? You better double check them then. I know for a FACT that the Predator does not kill a lot of civilians...b/c it can't. More civilians lives are lost due to the guys on the ground, sadly, but thats the case. Until you know the rules these things have to abide by before release of ANY weapon, know your facts buddy. Oh and I guess your saying that we should send human soldiers to go check out a suspected IED instead of letting a piece of scrap metal get blown up to save that one troop's life? Very nice man...
As far as you guys talking about EMP, the military knows how to deal with it, and these birds are a hell of a lot smart than people give them credit for. Its not a video game, and I doubt it is treated as such. In the end, they would still walk away knowing they just took someones life, the mortality is still there and they still experience it. It may be 1000s of miles away but think about it...they still have to watch it all happen.
The UAV is the present and the future...there is no going back, there is only going forward and perfecting them to be even better.
makes for interesting
makes for interesting warfare tactics though.
with traditional forces, generally you lose a small portion to attacks at a time.
with a remote controlled force, just takes one method of hacking satalites or something, and there goes your entire fleet of planes. whats worse, they can all be turned againts you in a blink of an eye, already behind your own borders (and probably most concerntrated in the areas you want to protect most hence the build up of capital in the area).