Robot air attack squadron bound for Iraq

The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It's outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles.

The Reaper is loaded, but there's no one on board. Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles away in Nevada.

The arrival of these outsized U.S. "hunter-killer" drones, in aviation history's first robot attack squadron, will be a watershed moment even in an Iraq that has seen too many innovative ways to hunt and kill.

That moment, one the Air Force will likely low-key, is expected "soon," says the regional U.S. air commander. How soon? "We're still working that," Lt. Gen. Gary North said in an interview.

The Reaper's first combat deployment is expected in Afghanistan, and senior Air Force officers estimate it will land in Iraq sometime between this fall and next spring. They look forward to it.

"With more Reapers, I could send manned airplanes home," North said.

The Associated Press has learned that the Air Force is building a 400,000-square-foot expansion of the concrete ramp area now used for Predator drones here at Balad, the biggest U.S. air base in Iraq, 50 miles north of Baghdad. That new staging area could be turned over to Reapers.

[...]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070715/ap_on_...5pGFzUANCJvaA8F


Hhhmm 'Reaper'... sounds friendly enough

More info here - http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123027012

Sounds like a Bushism to me.

Peace,

RadicalGnostic

Dont fear the Reaper.Fear the one's who are making the terminator movie reality.

^^your right. .. Its quite scary those who want to bring this stuff into play.. What defence will the average human have against "the machines"... .. none.

This is excellent technology, this means that my friends will not be killed in the front line and these terrorists will have nothing living to shoot at.

What is the price of a human life?

Unfortunately, much less than these aircraft, say the military ~100,000 in most cases, this jets cost millions.. So until they have a great means of production on them, we won't see them in use as much as they should be.. The demand, I'm sure is very high, and will do more research into this to see if there is a competitive public company that manufactures these.

Makes you think though, pretty soon the military will start recruiting out of video game tournaments.

I honestly think some kind of automated ground vehicle would be more usefull at this point in the war.

ahhhhhhhhhhh... i now see the beginning of the end!
we are going to be slaves by the MACHINES!!
THE TERMINATOR IS HAPPENING!