RQ-4

Reaper UAV deployed in Iraq

By Kyle Sherer

10:12 August 6, 2008 PDT

The MQ-9 Reaper, a hunter-killer UAV with long loitering capability, has completed its first operational mission in Iraq. The craft has been used in Afghanistan since 2007, clocking 3,800 hours and attacking 16 targets with 500-pound bombs and Hellfire missiles. Read More

Reaper UAV takes flight in Afghanistan

By Noel McKeegan

22:11 November 11, 2007 PST

November 12, 2007 Britain's most sophisticated unmanned surveillance system, the Reaper UAV, has been deployed into active service in Afghanistan. Read More

Solar-powered Zephyr smashes record for the longest unmanned flight

By Loz Blain

05:10 September 11, 2007 PDT

September 11, 2007 Using new solar array technology and a tailor-built autopilot system, QinetiQ’s Zephyr High Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has nearly doubled the official world record time for the longest duration unmanned flight with a 54 hour flight achieved during trials at the US Military's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Read More

Reaper UAV to be deployed for combat

By Shaun McKeegan

16:39 August 30, 2007 PDT

August 31, 2007 The US Airforce has announced the deployment of a new squadron of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq. Capable of carrying a payload of 3,750 pounds, the jet-fighter sized MQ-9 Reaper can fly at 300mph, reach 50,000 feet and stay airborne for 14 hours at a time. The "hunter-killer" UAV also incorporates Infrared, laser and radar targeting and is capable of deploying precision guided weapons. Read More

Northrop Grumman adds “Sense-and-Avoid” tech to Navy UAVs

By Noel McKeegan

19:39 August 9, 2007 PDT

August 10, 2007 Northrop Grumman has announced that it will equip its unmanned aircraft with technology that makes it safer to share airspace with piloted aircraft. Known as “Sense-and-Avoid”, these systems have been in development for more than five years. Read More

Tiger fires Hellfire II during French Evaluation

By Mike Hanlon

December 15, 2006 Australia’s new military helicopter is currently being checked out by France's Delegation Generale pour l'Armement (DGA) in Australia and part of the process took place last week at the Woomera Testing Range in South Australia. The French brought their own pilot to try out a combination of the Tiger and Lockheed Martin’s combat-proven HELLFIRE II air-to-ground missile. All went well, as the first-time French gunner, using a lock-on-before-launch technique, scored a direct hit with the HELLFIRE II missile on a target six kilometers away. On top of the HELLFIRE's seven-for-seven performance in earlier test flights from the ARH, the combination of the Tiger and HELLFIRE together make a formidable weapon system. A total of 22 new ‘Tiger’ helicopters will be bought by the Australian Defence Force, with the majority being built by Australian Aerospace in Brisbane at a cost of US$1.0 billion. Read More

Revolutionary New 'Cockpit' for UAVs dramatically improves operator performance

By Mike Hanlon

November 2, 2006 Raytheon has unveiled what it calls its Universal Control System (UCS) - a first of its kind unmanned aerial system (UAS) "cockpit" that revolutionizes operator awareness and efficiency, while providing the ability to control multiple unmanned aircraft, reduce potential accidents, improve training, and decrease costs. The announcement was made during the Shephard UV North America 2006 conference in Tysons Corner, Va. Read More

I-GNAT ER breaks Predator UAS Series Record - 5,000 Flight & Combat Hours in 2.5 years

By Mike Hanlon

October 20, 2006 Aircraft AI-001, the first Army I-GNAT ER unmanned aircraft produced for the U.S. Army, is continuing the illustrious General Atomics Predator family tradition, recently passing 5,000 flight hours. Initially deployed in March 2004, the aircraft has been involved in continuous operations ever since, and achieved this major milestone on its 428th combat mission. Its key attributes of long endurance (over 40 hours), large payload capacity, ease of use, low maintenance and very low cost-per-flight-hour make it one of the most durable and operationally flexible UAS ever built. The I-GNAT is an improved version of the original GNAT-750 began operation in 1989 and is designed to takeoff and land conventionally from any hard surface. Read More

U.S. Air Force's first hunter-killer UAV named Reaper

By Mike Hanlon

September 14, 2006 The Air Force has announced "Reaper" has been chosen as the name for the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle, the Air Force's first hunter-killer UAV. Formerly known as the Predator B, the MQ-9 is still in final development but is larger and much more powerful than the MQ-1 Predator and is designed to go after time-sensitive targets with persistence and precision, and should the Reaper ever be assigned your case, you are indeed very likely to become toast. Compared to the current MQ-1, which could carry two Hellfire missiles and is credited with at least one top 10 targets in Iraq, the Reaper is much more capable, and can carry 14 Hellfire II anti-armour missiles. The MQ-9 can also deploy precision guided weapons such as the GBU-12 and 500lb GBU-38 JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition). Similarly, the Reaper can carry an internal sensor payload more than twice that of MQ-1, now has an operational ceiling of 50,000 ft and can cruise above clouds at 260 knots for 14 hours at a time. In announcing the new moniker, Gen. T. Michael Moseley stressed that the key advantage of the UAV is not keeping pilots out of harm's way, but the persistence UAVs can inherently provide. Read More

Global Hawk UAV gets bigger and more capable

By Mike Hanlon

November 11, 2005 The Global Hawk UAV was still in its development stages when the needs of the war in Afghanistan saw it pressed into service. Since then, Global Hawk has successfully completed more than 225 missions through three deployments and more than 4,900 combat flight hours. Now the aircraft has been redesigned to carry 50% more payload, so the Air Force can install additional sensors, enhancing its ability to simultaneously collect imagery, signals intelligence and infrared and radar information, and transfer it to the warfighting machine in near-real time. Global Hawk flies autonomously at an altitude of more than 60,000 feet, above inclement weather and prevailing winds, for 35+ hours at a time. During a single mission, it can provide detailed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information in near-real time over 40,000 square miles - approximately the size of Illinois. Read More

New Medium Altitude Endurance UAV to deliver better real-time reconnaissance to soldiers in urban battle zones

By Mike Hanlon

February 2, 2005 - Northrop Grumman has successfully completed the first phase of flight testing a demonstrator version of a new medium altitude endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Soldiers in urban battle zones could receive more timely and complete information about enemy forces from low-flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with the technologies being developed. Read More

Night Hawk CCTV cameras capture images in total darkness

By Mike Hanlon

Wednesday September 17, 2003: The tamper resistant, bullet-style "Night Hawk" cameras from Silent Witness automatically provide 24/7 surveillance by combining a true day/night camera board with built-in infrared LED illuminators that make it possible to capture images in total darkness. Read More

Unmanned Aerial vehicles

By Mike Hanlon

May, 2004 It's 100 years since the Wright brothers became the first humans to achieve successful powered flight, but the trend at the beginning of the 21st century is to take humans back out of the cockpit, replacing pilots with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that are equipped to perform almost any task.Used on a limited but increasing scale since the Vietnam War for aerial surveillance - 10 UAV systems were used in Iraq according to the US Defense Department - UAVs are now taking on a more active combat role as well as finding applications in the private sector. Read More