Posted on 09/16/2007 4:43:52 AM PDT by badpacifist
Army records first UAV kills. When Army scouts in Iraq spotted two men planting a roadside bomb Sept. 1, they called in a nearby Hunter unmanned aircraft, which dropped a laser-guided bomb and killed the two men. "We had the first confirmed use of an Army weaponized UAV," said Col. Don Hazelwood, project manager for Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
The Army is mounting precision-guided weapons on hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hazelwood said.
The MQ-5B Hunter will carry the laser-guided GBU-44/B Viper Strike, a 42-pound glide bomb with a one-yard wingspan that can strike within one meter of its aim point.
The Army intends to increase the number of Viper Strike bombs it intends to buy, but declined to give specific numbers, said Tim Owings, the Army's deputy project manager for UAVs.
AGM-114 Hellfire missiles are going on the Warrior AlphaUAV, a prototype version of the MQ-1C Warrior Extended-Range Multi-purpose UAV to be ready by 2009. Eventually, the Warrior may also carry Viper Strikes.
Both UAV types will carry laser designators that can be used to guide munitions dropped from UAVs or manned aircraft, said Owings.
He said the Army has a human in the loop who decides when to fire a UAV's weapons.
Neat!
It is cool, but is that a good use of resources? If the scouts spotted them, why did they not engage with small arms or shoulder fired device. Seems it would be more efficient $ wise.
When the Soviet Bears start flying down the East coast to Cuba AGAIN.......
Just have one of these things follow each bomber, one quarter mile behind and armed with sidewinders.
Iffen I were the Russian pilot, I would find it very, very scary to be followed by an unmanned, armed, pilotless robot.
Just behind, armed, waiting, mile after mile......
There is still a human at the controls. Just that killing the plane no longer kills the pilot.
Could it be the scouts did not want to give away their position?
The bad guys watching would have no idea where the bomb came from. It has to worry them a little bit that they can be killed without ever know they were in the cross hairs.
As a taxpayer, I don't mind spending a little extra if it keeps the front line troops safer as they go about the business of killing terrorist.
I’ll bet the USAF is already putting together the paperwork to transfer this system.
Candygram for Mongo!
Good, looks like the Army is not afraid to use it.
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