Posted on 03/30/2006 8:35:28 AM PST by SevenMinusOne
Unmanned Predator Kills Three Terrorists; Relative Turns in Suspect American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 29, 2006 – An MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle engaged three insurgents in the process of planting a homemade bomb along a road near Balad Air Base, Iraq, yesterday evening and launched an AGM-114 Hellfire missile against the group. The Predator monitored the three terrorists for about a half hour while they used a pick ax to dig a hole in the road, placed an explosive round in the hole, and strung wires from the hole to a ditch on the side of the road. When it was clear the individuals were placing a bomb, the Predator launched the 100-pound Hellfire missile, killing all three insurgents.
"This is a prime example of how airpower is supporting the fight on the ground," Air Force Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad, said. "We're able to provide a persistent view of the battlefield to commanders on the ground and, if called upon, put a weapon on a target within minutes."
Using joint Army and Air Force trend analysis and past incident reporting from the area, the Predator was assigned to monitor the general location where the insurgents were ultimately found. "Based on the information we had available, we had a pretty good idea there might be some activity in the area, and we were right," Gorenc said. "This strike should send a message to our enemies that we're watching you, and we will take action against you any time, day or night, if you continue to stand in the way of progress in Iraq."
In other news from Iraq, a relative of a suspected terrorist turned him over to Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers March 27, accusing him of conducting drive-by attacks against Iraqi army troops, officials reported today.
When soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, responded to the relative's tip and went to the suspect's house, they found two AK-47 assault rifles, a 9 mm pistol, and body armor. The suspect was taken into custody for questioning.
Elsewhere, other tipsters told coalition forces and Iraqi army soldiers about two weapons caches on March 25. One cache contained 22 grenades, six grenade fuses and five blasting caps in southern Baghdad. U.S. soldiers from 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, and counterparts from the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division, found the cache.
A few hours later, another tip led the same soldiers to a large weapons cache containing 292 grenades, 350 machine gun rounds, 100 hand grenade fuses, two 120 mm artillery rounds, two 25-pound bags of artillery propellant, and repellant charges.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and U.S. Central Command Air Forces Forward news releases.)
http://www.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?storyID=123018072
Sounds Good To Me!
Unmanned Predator? I don't think I've ever seen a manned Pradator.
Nice shootin'!
I always wanted to be a UAV pilot, but could never fit into the tiny flight suit.
Oddly enough....this will not be their last experience with Hellfire.
:-D Good one!
Careful what you wish for. Remember what the "u" stands for. You can be un-manned.
Ouch! I think I liked it better when they were RPVs!
You missed your calling.
Coming soon to a city near you.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606087/posts
"that we're watching you, and we will take action against you any time, day or night, if you continue to stand in the way of progress"
Very useful tools for our guys in the Middle East, I enjoy these accounts. There was an article earlier today about Preds being used here at home to watch folks in the US. The quote from above may take on a whole different feeling later on.
Of course, the MSM won't let the folks back home hear any of it.
Regards
I look at that headline and can't help thinking that this might be how liberals view handguns and SUV's: mindless killing machines seemingly capable of independent action.
The Iraqis have been doing a good job of ratting out the terrorists for well over a year now but you never really hear about that in the media.
Those drones sound like mopeds coming up behind you. From the sound, you can't really tell that they're in the air until they're right over you.
Thanks for the good news! How soon do you think this will show up in the MSM?
Did we get two birds with one stone?
Guns don't kill people. It's those damn bullets! ;-) (Tip o' the hat to the unknown comedian I stole that from)
LOL - great minds think alike. We made our posts within seconds of each other.
So your hearing is skewed as well? That can't be an easy thing to pull off.
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