Fit to Fight: Armed with precision-guided bombs and missiles, the Reaper MQ-9 is the deadliest war drone yet. Here, it sits on the flight line at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.
Point. Click. Kill: Inside The Air Force's Frantic Unmanned Reinvention
Feature
The age of remote-control warfare isn't coming--it's here, and not even the Air Force, which made it happen, is entirely prepared.
Unlike the F-16, a Predator can remain above a target for 24 hours, while pilots like Brockshus spell each other in shifts, perhaps watching the sun rise over Afghanistan on their video monitors before driving home in the dark. “They give you a capability that you never had,” says retired Air Force Colonel Tom Ehrhard, a leading UAV expert. “And when you couple it with a lethal system, guess what? It’s magic.”
Watch video: Of it taking out Taliban and Al Qaeda militants fleeing in fear.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid3924348001?bctid=34442050001
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid3924348001?bctid=34442050001
