Reaper UAV now in Afghanistan

Reaper UAV now in Afghanistan
Air Force Print News | October 12, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The Air Force announced Oct. 11 that the MQ-9 Reaper, the service's new hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle, is now flying operational missions in Afghanistan. The Reaper has completed 12 missions since its inaugural flight there Sept. 25, averaging about one sortie per day.

Capable of striking enemy targets with on-board weapons, the Reaper has conducted close-air support and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Operational use of Reaper's advanced capabilities marks a step forward in the evolution of unmanned aerial systems. Air Force quality assurance evaluators gave a "thumbs up" to the aircraft's debut performance and have been pleased with its operation ever since.

"The Reaper is a significant evolution in capability for the Air Force," said Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff. "We've taken these aircraft from performing mainly as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms to carrying out true hunter-killer missions."

The Reaper is larger and more heavily-armed than the MQ-1 Predator. In addition to its traditional ISR capabilities, it is designed to attack time-sensitive targets with persistence and precision, and destroy or disable those targets. To date, Reaper operators have not been called upon to drop their weapons on enemy positions.

Like the Predator, the Reaper is launched, recovered and maintained at deployed locations, while being remotely operated by pilots and sensor operators at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. That is where the resemblance ends. The MQ-9 has nearly nine times the range, can fly twice as high and carries more munitions.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,152564,00.html



uhc comment: According to Defense Industry Daily, these bad boys



http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/437m-for-2-mq9-reaper-systems-03140/&h=531&w=800&sz=105&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=NXckmVqb4KOo1M:&tbnh=95&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmq-9%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

$43.7M for 2 MQ-9 Reaper Systems
19-Mar-2007 04:45

General Atomics in San Diego, CA received a $43.7 million firm-fixed-price contract modification. It covers the manufacture, test and delivery of 2 Predator B MQ-9 (Reaper) unmanned aerial vehicles, 2 mobile ground control stations, and associated equipment to include initial spares, ground support equipment, pack-up kits, and Ku SATCOM antennas. At this time, $32.7 million has been obligated, and work will be complete December 2008. The Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH issued the contract (FA8620-05-G-3028, order number 0024/no modification number at this time).

Creech Air Force Base, NV received its first operational MQ-9 on March 13, 2007, soon to be assigned to the 42nd Attack Squadron. The Pentagon's FY 2008 budget request asks for 4 MQ-9s,at a cost of $79 million.


They are cheaper than the $339,000,000 an F-22 costs --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=4847