The Drone Wars: 9/11-Inspired Combat Leans Heavily on Robot Aircraft
The U.S. Defense Department has added thousands of automated aircraft added to its fleet over the past decade to support operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan as concerns of drone accuracy persist
Credits: COURTESY OF U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/LT COL LESLIE PRATT, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The Drone Wars: 9/11-Inspired Combat Leans Heavily on Robot Aircraft
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NANO AIR VEHICLE (NAV): DARPA contracted AeroVironment, Inc., to design and build a flying prototype "hummingbird-like" aircraft. In February 2011 AeroVironment introduced its 16-centimeter-long Nano Hummingbird, capable of climbing and descending vertically, flying sideways left and right, flying forward and backward, as well as rotating clockwise and counter-clockwise under remote control and carrying a small video camera. COURTESY OF AEROVIRONMENT
FIRESCOUT: The Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Firescout is an unmanned helicopter that the Navy is testing. COURTESY OF NORTHROP GRUMMAN
BROAD AREA MARITIME SURVEILLANCE (BAMS): The Navy is testing two new types of RPA, one of which is the long-endurance Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) aircraft, a Global Hawk variant. COURTESY OF NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND
SHADOW: Another medium-sized Army drone is AAI Corp.'s RQ-7B Shadow 200. COURTESY OF THE U.S. MARINES, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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HUNTER: The Army operates three medium-sized models of unmanned aircraft, one of which is the Northrop Grumman MQ-5B Hunter. COURTESY OF NORTHROP GRUMMAN
SENTINEL: The Air Force also uses the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel, a "stealthy reconnaissance aircraft whose existence has only recently been acknowledged by the Air Force," according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in June. COURTESY OF TRUTHDOWSER, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
GLOBAL-HAWK: Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawks are the largest RPAs in the Air Force's fleet with wingspans of 35-to-40 meters. COURTESY OF U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/MASTER SGT. JASON TUDOR
REAPER: About 40 turboprop-powered General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers (a larger version of the Predator) were supposed to be entering the fleet in 2011. COURTESY OF U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY PAUL RIDGEWAY
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PREDATOR: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.'s Predator drones were introduced to combat in the mid-1990s and deployed in the U.S.'s 1999 Kosovo air campaign for surveillance and reconnaissance. COURTESY OF U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/LT COL LESLIE PRATT, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
