Reaper -- with ordnance onboard...
Reaper -- with ordnance onboard...
Need much smaller versions that can sneak into the men’s rooms in the Parliment building in Tehran and similar places.
Very impressive system. However, how come it’s a turboprop, which limits its performance? Why didn’t the builders opt for a pure jet?
Too bad they won’t consider using these again Islamburg and the other al-Qaeda training camps in the US of A.
;-)
Well, the “internet” poker players seem to do quite well in the poker tournaments. I guess the “game” skills from behind a computer screen is nothing to scoff at.
Interesting idea. It's what Churchill and the Brits did in Iraq in the 20s. They used the fledgling RAF to extend their control over wide areas of the country without sending out more than limited cavalry and armored car patrols. Events are given a good review in David Fromkin's book "A Peace to End All Peace".
In January 1984, I sat in a Q&A session in Okinawa. The speaker was General Robert T. (Tom) Marsh, Commander of Air Force Systems Command (AFSC). The questioners were 30 F-15 pilots stationed at Kadena AB in Okinawa. Most of the questions had to do with unmanned aircraft.
General Marsh was somewhat evasive in his answers but in no way denied that unmanned aircraft were being planned. What the pilots were anxious about was something that those of us in the aircraft Research and Development community had always known: The pilot and the hardware to support him are the weak link in the performance of any aircraft. Altitude ceilings, weight limits, and G-force envelopes are limited by the tolerance and capability of the human system controlling the aircraft.
This was in the early days of high-speed satellite link communication and certainly well before the internet became a reality. It is only now that I feel comfortable revealing that the concept of remotely manned aircraft had been under development at AFSC since the early 80's. In those days, the AFSC Command Surgeon's office in which I was Chief, Clinical Medicine had begun to undertake a project known as "Human Capability Enhancement." The purpose was to develop systems that would enable humans to tolerate more g-forces, see farther, hear better, stay alert longer, and think faster. At some point in 1985, we were directed to cease or sharply curtail all of our efforts. The explanation was classified but we figured it out. Take the man out of the aircraft, put him in a comfortable seat in a climate and altitude-controlled environment and the aircraft's weight is reduced and its performance is dramatically enhanced.
In the mid-80's remotely controlled aircraft were a concept under heavy security and intense development. Many dominoes had to fall in order for it to become a reality. It appears the hurdles have been cleared. Good luck and God speed, Reaper.