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| MQ-9 Reaper USA |
Militarymedia.net - Designed to assist the United States in counterinsurgency operations in the ongoing War on Terrorism, the MQ-9 Reaper is a further development of the MQ-1 Predator drones that had been in operation long before the War on Terrorism officially began. The MQ-9 Reaper took on the reconnaissance and surveillance role of the MQ-1 and combined it with a much more powerful engine and a more load-resistant wing design for the weapon to effectively make it one of the first true killer-hunting drones.
Like most modern UAVs, the MQ-9 has a very long level of durability for a 14-hour aircraft. However it is important to fully utilize its surveillance role in combat and allow aircraft to roam over targets long enough to be identified as civilians or enemies. The MQ-9 will also soon get the role of using air-to-air weapons, but since its structure is not designed for dogfighting, this may be limited to self-defense. Surveillance was conducted through the use of the AN/APY-8 Lynx II Radar and the AN/DAS-1 MTS-B Multi-Spectral Targeting System.
The aircraft first flew in prototype form on February 2, 2001 and entered service about 6 years later with the U.S. Air Force on May 1, 2007. Since its introduction, the MQ-9 has been operating in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, and Mali in 2015. In addition to surveillance, the Reaper is also known for its AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) in its role as a killer-hunter UCAV. There are also plans to equip the Reaper with AIM-92 Stinger missiles to defend themselves in an air-to-air role. Countries currently using the MQ-9 Reaper include the United States, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
