Robot Air Attack Squadron Bound for Iraq

[CatDaddy]

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.

news.aol.com/story/_a/robot-air-attack-squadron-bound-for-iraq/20070715183809990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

-D

[seymour]

Did you read the comments below the article? There are some radical dudes there as well.

[cathouse]

Maybe some of those "Robots" should get off their butt and go over there and get a real education on what's going on.....

[BlueCat]

Perhaps this will allow us to pull our troops out earlier than later.

[seymour]

bluecat2 said:

Perhaps this will allow us to pull our troops out earlier than later.

Could be a step in that direction. To win, you have to destroy the enemies will to resist. Being attacked by a plane being flown by someone on the other side of the world has to have an effect on your perception of your ability to win.

These things are relatively small and would be hard to hit. No pilot protection armor improves the horsepower to weight ratio and makes them more maneuverable. Just looks good all around.

They do need a rear mounted sidewinder missile to keep planes off their tail, even though there are none currently in that theater.