Yemen drone strike: just the start?

Jane's ^ | November 9 2002 | Craig Hoyle and Andrew Koch

[knighthawk]

The US Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA's) airstrike against six suspected Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen on 3 November has again demonstrated the Predator unmanned air vehicle's (UAV's) transition from a surveillance drone to a hunter-killer asset.

The mission saw a CIA-operated RQ-1 Predator UAV, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, destroy a civilian vehicle after launching an AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile at the target around 160km east of the Yemeni capital, Sana'a.

The action is understood to have taken place with at least Yemeni knowledge, if not approval. US officials had indicted one of the six men as being involved in the October 2000 attack on the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Cole off Yemen, in which 17 US sailors lost their lives.

The UAV involved in the operation is believed to have taken off from Djibouti. This suggests that such aircraft have flown over Yemen for a while, since the time required for a Predator to reach the country would preclude its use against such 'pop-up' targets of opportunity - its cruising speed is no more than 110kt.

In a further sign of its growth into the armed reconnaissance mission, US DoD officials have confirmed that the US Air Force (USAF) has started patrolling Iraq's southern no-fly zone within the last month using Hellfire-equipped Predators. Missiles have already been deployed against targets such as mobile air-defence radars, say the DoD sources. The use of these aircraft - redesignated MQ-1s to signify their new strike role - is likely to increase as more aircraft become available over the coming months.

In the event of an all-out war with Iraq, US defence officials say the armed Predator would likely be used against high-value time-critical targets, such as fleeing 'Scud' missile launchers, other short-range ballistic missiles, mobile air-defence units and unspecified 'leadership' targets of opportunity.

The Predator's line-of-sight datalink allows control of the vehicle to 150nm, with satellite communications enabling extended-range operations. In a likely mission scenario for the Yemeni strike, the UAV would have been remotely piloted from Djibouti, with surveillance imagery relayed in real time to a field user equipped with a remote video terminal.

CIA personnel are believed to have conducted Hellfire strikes with Predator UAVs in Afghanistan, but the first use of this capability outside a war zone has raised issues of the 'legality' of the mission, since it appears to contravene international law. The US administration will argue, however, that the action is justified under its policy of launching pre-emptive strikes against suspected terrorists or so-called 'rogue' states.

With an operational radius of around 500nm and an endurance of more than 24h, the armed Predator holds massive potential during the continuing 'war on terrorism', since it can be deployed in-country or in a friendly neighbouring state. The system has a relatively small logistics footprint with the USAF, which typically deploys a unit comprising four air vehicles, an RQ-1Q ground control station with a line-of-sight datalink terminal and a vehicle-mounted RQ-1U/W satellite communications datalink terminal. Around 55 personnel manage these.

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[knighthawk]

Ping

[oyez]

bfl

[Grampa Dave]

Every al Qaeda thug from the foot soldier goat humper to the top elite Goat humper is now a target of Predators. They can be killed from a safe distance at very low cost. We will find them, kill them and eliminate them. Some will leave a leg or a finger for identification. Some will just disappear like many of our 3,000 innocents murdered on 9/11/2001 by al Qaeda.

Every mass murdering Islamofascist thug in Iraq or Syria is now a target of opportunity. Before our 2,000 plus planes destroy most of the infrastructure of Iraq, these Islamofascist thugs can be eliminated in groups or one by one. It may be worth a 9 mm bullet or a hand grenade sent to take out Saddam from an Iraqi to save his country, family and own life.

Every Mullah of Hate in Iran can be targeted and removed to allow the Iranian rebellion to start.

They have chosen death over life. Time to drive home their choice.

[RonF]

As I said on a previous thread about this: why waste a good pilot running these things? For half a dozen pizzas, a case of pop, and 3 dozen CD's a week, you could hire my 16-year old son and a dozen of his buddies to run a bunch of these things. Judging from what I see over his shoulder when he's playing the on-line games, he'd be better at it, and the bunch of them could clean out the Afghan hills in a week.

[Conservative4Ever]

Bring it on! They started this street fight, we will certainly finish it.

Red

[Psycho_Bunny]

Give 100 of these things to the registered admins of The HomeLAN Federation and we would take over the world.

[RonF]

The Predator's line-of-sight datalink allows control of the vehicle to 150n

With an operational radius of around 500nm

Typo here. An "nm" is a nanometer, a billionth of a meter. 500nm is the length of one wavelength of blue light. I'm hoping what's meant here is Km, not nm.

[ErnBatavia]

For half a dozen pizzas, a case of pop, and 3 dozen CD's a week, you could hire my 16-year old son

Just keep him away from the Britney threads then...concentation, you know.

[Henchster]

I'll put up my 8-year old nephew up against anyone. He can get to the top level of any game before I can figure out the objective.

He'll work for soda and chocolate chip cookies, and a $10 a week allowance. Save those pilots for A-10s and B-1Bs.

[Henchster]

nm is Nautical Mile, which is slightly longer than a mile.

[ArrogantBustard]

In this context "nm" is "nautical miles", not nanometres. A nautical mile is rather longer than a nanometre. (IIRC, it's slightly longer than the "statute mile" familiar to all Americans.)

[Lurker]

My vote for quote of the week.

L

[knews_hound]

I play Day of Defeat, http://www.dayofdefeatmod.com/, a LOT.

Some of these guys have reaction times so low they are spooky.

Cheers,

knews hound

[RonF]

Well, the guys working in the factory making these babies won't be laid off soon ....

[RonF]

So they're mixing metric and non-SI units in the same article? Elsewhere in the article they do use Km. I am familiar with nautical miles (1.15 statute miles, as I recall), but had never seen the term abbreviated before, hence my confusion. Whereas I have worked extensively with applications requiring use of nanometers, so my brain made the (to me) automatic translation and came up with "typo!".

[Incorrigible]

Instead of the MQ-1, they should call this new weapon delivery system

The Redeemer

Uh-Oh!  Hello Allah!

 

[Blue Screen of Death]

They need to mount something like one of those deer whistles on the front of the thing so the dudes in the car get to hear the thing comming. Gotta love that name "Hellfire".

[doug from upland]

I guess it is not a good idea to ride around with a thug terrorist. Unless you're looking for those promised virgins.

[Brett66]

We should mount shock rifles on all of the predators. Shock-combo to Osama's head!