Warbird Information Exchange

from today's paper....the usaf is deploying the u.a.v."reaper" an upsized cousin to the the predator u.a.v. which has been operational since 1995 to iraq. the reaper is roughly the size of an a-10 warthog, 300 miles per hour speed, all the electronics, 50 thousand feet altitude, a ton & 1/2 ordinance carrying capability, 14 hour air loiter time. this is aviation history's 1st robot attack squadron!!!! the mission........ strictly hunt & kill. the reaper is 5 tons gross weight, 4 times heavier than the predator. 36 ft long, 66 foot wingspan. the predator carries 2 hellfire missiles. the reaper packs 14 air to ground weapons, or 4 hellfires & 2 500 lb bombs. operations will be done by computer 7000 miles away in nevada. the brits are also buying the reaper but only for aerial recon. the usaf officially established the 432nd wing on may 1st, & will operate 60 reapers & 160 predators.. this establishment & deployment will give the usaf the opportunity to send pilots home to their families & keep them out of harm's way. the predator flies at 140 mph, the 300 mph speed will enable the reaper to get it to hot areas faster, thus saving countless ground forces lives as well. our tax dollars aren't being all quandered, this thing will save countless u.s. troop lives.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Robot? Hardly...

Just like with the RQ-1 Pred, there is a regular old pilot sitting at the controls (albeit 6,000 miles away) flying the Reaper and pushing the big red button to drop the ordnance.

So, it is certainly "unmanned" in that there's not a pilot physically sitting in it...but it's not some artificial intelligence out there doing the hunting and killing on its own.

The Reaper is actually the "Predator B", a turboprop Predator that General Atomics has been trying to sell for a number of years.

As Randy said, details and pictures found here, http://www.defense-update.com/products/p/predatorB.htm

Looks great for ground attack but would be eaten alive by an opposing Air Force.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

if they had an air force!

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Taylor Stevenson

Robot? Hardly.

Destroy the enemy's air defense and C3 with standoff precision weapons first, establish air superiority, and then send in the Reaper.

"Seasons don't fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun, or the rain..."

But the bad guys sure should!

But can it find Sarah Connor?

hey........ why the gang bang???? i'm only conveying what was in the local paper!!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

I've always wondered with the inevitable oncoming of UAVs for more intense combat roles what steps are being taken to prevent "Spoofing"

It always seemed to me that the UAV's achilles heal would be it's TX/RX components.

Flood the airspace with a high wattage transmitter and obliterate the UAV's signals and you have a dead bird in the air ready to be shot down.

You can encrypt your transmissions all you want but if someone blanks out your area with noise then it won't matter.

Food for thought when they claim the F-35 and the AH-1Z will be the last manned direct combat vehicles.


Shay
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Semper Fortis

In this case you would just set an autopilot to take over, reverse course and fly the old heading home. When radio transmissions resume the ground crew can take the plane over again.

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

essentially neutering their effect everytime UAVs entered the area of operations.

You would need self autonomous UAVs (which, not to be paranoid, could be dangerous in their own right) or manned aircraft to take out the tranmitter sites ala Wild Weasels. Or ground forces

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Without getting into TOO many specifics, do you have any idea how much wattage it would take to jam ALL the possible frequencies that a UAV uses to fly and transmit data over a large enough area to make a difference?

And, oh, by the way...if you've jammed ALL the freqs, what do you expect 'friendly' forces to use for command and control??

Hint: if they could do it currently, they would.

Noise jamming is a pretty low-tech and easily defeated technique.

Now it sounds like a James Bond villian!

My mother-in-law used it all the time

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Don't touch my junk!!