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‘Hunter-killer’ drone squadron bound for Afghanistan and Iraq
By Charles J. Hanley
Associated Press
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BALAD AIR BASE, 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.

It’s another sign that the Air Force is planning for an extended stay in Iraq, supporting Iraqi government forces in any continuing conflict, even if U.S. ground troops are drawn down in the coming years.

The estimated two dozen or more unmanned MQ-1 Predators now doing surveillance over Iraq, as the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, have become mainstays of the U.S. war effort, offering round-the-clock airborne “eyes’’ watching over road convoys, tracking nighttime insurgent movements via infrared sensors, and occasionally unleashing one of their two Hellfire missiles on a target.

From about 36,000 flying hours in 2005, the Predators are expected to log 66,000 hours this year over Iraq and Afghanistan.

The MQ-9 Reaper, when compared with the 1995-vintage Predator, represents a major evolution of the unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.

At five tons gross weight, the Reaper is four times heavier than the Predator. Its size — 36 feet long, with a 66-foot wingspan — is comparable to the profile of the Air Force’s workhorse A-10 attack plane. It can fly twice as fast and twice as high as the Predator. Most significantly, it carries many more weapons.

While the Predator is armed with two Hellfire missiles, the Reaper can carry 14 of the air-to-ground weapons — or four Hellfires and two 500-pound bombs.

“It’s not a recon squadron,’’ Col. Joe Guasella, operations chief for the Central Command’s air component, said of the Reapers. “It’s an attack squadron, with a lot more kinetic ability.’’

“Kinetic’’ — Pentagon argot for destructive power — is what the Air Force had in mind when it christened its newest robot plane with a name associated with death.

“The name Reaper captures the lethal nature of this new weapon system,’’ Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, said in announcing the name last September.

General Atomics of San Diego has built at least nine of the MQ-9s thus far, at a cost of $69 million per set of four aircraft, with ground equipment.

The Air Force’s 432nd Wing, a UAV unit formally established on May 1, is to eventually fly 60 Reapers and 160 Predators. The numbers to be assigned to Iraq and Afghanistan will be classified.

The Reaper is expected to be flown as the Predator is — by a two-member team of pilot and sensor operator who work at computer control stations and video screens that display what the UAV “sees.’’ Teams at Balad, housed in a hangar beside the runways, perform the takeoffs and landings, and similar teams at Nevada’s Creech Air Force Base, linked to the aircraft via satellite, take over for the long hours of overflying the Iraqi landscape.

American ground troops, equipped with laptops that can download real-time video from UAVs overhead, “want more and more of it,’’ said Maj. Chris Snodgrass, the Predator squadron commander here.

The Reaper’s speed will help. “Our problem is speed,’’ Snodgrass said of the 140-mph Predator. “If there are troops in contact, we may not get there fast enough. The Reaper will be faster and fly farther.’’

The new robot plane is expected to be able to stay aloft for 14 hours fully armed, watching an area and waiting for targets to emerge.

“It’s going to bring us flexibility, range, speed and persistence,’’ said regional commander North, “such that I will be able to work lots of areas for a long, long time.’’

The British also are impressed with the Reaper, and are buying three for deployment in Afghanistan later this year. The Royal Air Force version will stick to the “recon’’ mission, however — no weapons on board.

Take a look
An MQ-4 Predator controlled by the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron stands on the tarmac at Balad Air Base, 50 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, June 21, 2007. The Air Force plans to replace this robot aircraft "soon" with the larger MQ-9 Reaper. (AP Photo/ Maya Alleruzzo)
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Reader comments on this story - 16 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

BadMoFo wrote on Jul 17, 2007 11:43 AM:

" America will not kneel before a coward enemy, we will continue to hunt and kill those who oppose us. Especially angry uneducated subhumans.. "

GRIM-REAPERS wrote on Jul 16, 2007 6:52 PM:

" HEADS UP, BIN- LADEN !!! "

Kyle wrote on Jul 16, 2007 3:28 PM:

" I hope the guidance system wasn't designed through a no-bid contract and that Pakistan won't mind us flying along their border... "

Dr. Paul wrote on Jul 16, 2007 2:01 PM:

" RON PAUL 2008 "

a soon-to-be "military Mom" wrote on Jul 16, 2007 10:41 AM:

" I think this is wonderful!!!!!!! Any way to help defend ourselves and fight a war and minimize human loss-of-life, how can anybody complain about that??!! "

Hummm. wrote on Jul 16, 2007 9:39 AM:

" So now we don’t need a fence along the Mexican US border? "

Crybaby wrote on Jul 16, 2007 9:30 AM:

" Great stuff: Except that, last time I checked, we've been using this Buck Rogers stuff for the past four years. And, except for blowing hell outta' wedding parties and a couple of schools, it isn't exactly leading us down the road we need to travel. Boots on the ground. Boots on the ground. "

sad lady wrote on Jul 16, 2007 8:52 AM:

" Now we can kill without even risking our military. How we dehumanize war. No wonder our children are growing up without feeling emotions over war... After all no one has to see the actual ugliness any more. "

Re:question wrote on Jul 16, 2007 8:49 AM:

" Because if we don't-even though we are at war-they will take that as us waging war against them. "

problem wrote on Jul 16, 2007 8:38 AM:

" If we don't tell everyone something that we are doing they don't think we are doing anything. Go figure. I am sure there is much much there that we are trying not to share but the news media doesn't like it and are showing our hands to the enemy as much as they can. "

in Afghanistan? wrote on Jul 16, 2007 8:37 AM:

" Are we there? Someone better tell Obama. He doesn't seem to think we are. Oh but then what does he know? I guess he just needs to read the news. "

To question wrote on Jul 16, 2007 7:29 AM:

" The reason why we're telling the world this is to increase our troop morale and to decrease the enemies morale. With this weapon, the pilot is chillin back in Nevada munchin on some cheetos, maybe sippin on a slurpee huntin bad buys down. How you feel about going up against something like that? Would make me feel pretty depressed. "

To: question wrote on Jul 16, 2007 7:26 AM:

" Those primates with their AK-47's couldnt touch touch these things even if we told them the exact time and place they would be flying overhead. "

Dewey wrote on Jul 16, 2007 7:09 AM:

" Our problem is not our defense equipment , our problem is the will of the people. They just do not care about our defense. They only care about Abortion and Affirmative Action. "

question wrote on Jul 15, 2007 11:11 PM:

" why do we tell the enemy that we are sending new weapons in to fight them. we did not tell germany when D-Day was going to be. we did not tell japan when the bomb was coming. why would we tell anyone that we had a new weapon that was going to be used on them? "

Really wrote on Jul 15, 2007 11:09 PM:

" Cooollll "
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