Tag Archives: predator

Air Force to Allow Enlisted to Fly Drones

Hearkening back to the days of the “flying sergeant,” the US Air Force will soon allow enlisted personnel to control RQ-4 Global Hawks:

“Our enlisted force is the best in the world and I am completely confident they will be able to do the job and do it well,” said Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James…

The secretary and chief directed Air Combat Command to develop an implementation plan over the next six months to address items like entry requirements, training plans, career path development, delineation of duties, compensation details and an appropriate force mix. Implementation is focused on the Global Hawk community, not the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper force.

To be fair, the RQ-4 is a “fly by keyboard” drone: While it Read more

Predator Flies in USAFA Dining Hall

This is actually old news, but it is somewhat an urban legend, as well.

A General Atomics MQ-1 Predator has been hung from the ceiling of Mitchell Hall at the US Air Force Academy.  Mitchell Hall is the huge dining facility that seats every cadet for every (mandatory) meal.

While static displays of aircraft have long been used to highlight the Air Force mission and inspire others to serve, this is probably the most Read more

Air Force Deploys Newest Predator

Purists have for years mocked the Hollywood portrayal of military UAVs.  The 2007 Transformers, for example, featured an afterburning Predator.

The Predator has a propeller, so that’s like having an afterburning Cessna 172.

Now, however, reality has started to catch up with fiction.  The Air Force has reportedly purchased — and deployed, its single Predator C, which has a jet engine in place of the propeller.

It does not appear to be an afterburning engine, but there’s still time yet…

US Army’s Gray Eagle Gets Hellfire

The US Army proudly announced its MQ-1C Gray Eagle had successfully employed a Hellfire missile in Iraq.

Of course, the Army’s Gray Eagle is essentially the same aircraft as the Air Force’s Predator, which has been armed for some time.

The article notes some of the differences between Air Force and Army operations:

The Air Force’s Predator drones are flown by officers who are usually located back in the USA and connected to the airframes by satellite link. But flying the Army’s Gray Eagle is an enlisted soldier’s affair, done in theater and close to the ground troops that the airframe serves.

Column: Use Predator to Take Out Gadhafi

A newspaper columnist recently suggested there was a “strong moral argument” for taking out the Libyan leader, and the MQ-1B Predator was just the tool for the job.  Columnist Richard Miniter said:

Since President Barack Obama seems comfortable killing terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan with Predator drone strikes, why not in Libya?

Ignore the political and even moral aspects of such a statement for a moment.

Such an assertion is both ignorant and asinine.

Following Operation Desert Storm, hundreds of hours of CNN Read more

Air Force Receives Last Predator

The US Air Force has accepted delivery of the last MQ-1 Predator.  This completes the purchase order created some time ago.

For all those who look forward to joining the Air Force to fly by remote control, not to worry:  Production and purchase of the Predator‘s bigger brother, the MQ-9 Reaper, is still in full swing.

This was the “last” only because newer and better UAVs are now filling the ranks.

Air Force to Field New Gorgon Stare

The Washington Post recently caught up to the announcement from last June that the US military was attempting to field UAVs with a multitude of cameras and sensors called the Gorgon Stare — named for the Greek mythological creature.

Of actual interest in the article is the technology the Air Force is using to help analysts sift through the vast amount of material produced by UAVs:

The Air Force…is working with Harris Corp. to adapt ESPN’s technique of tagging key moments in National Football League videotape to the war zone. Just as a sportscaster can call up a series of archived quarterback blitzes as soon as a player is sacked on the field, an analyst in Afghanistan can retrieve the last month’s worth of bombings in a particular stretch of road with the push of a button, officials said.

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