[SauronOfMordor]

I wonder if the military is working on the ability to launch and recover drones from the tail-ramp of a C-130. Now THAT would be cool. Flying aircraft carrier for drones

[Bobby777]

they couldn't survive in the propwash of the C-130 ... it would flip 'em like burgers ... they used to recover drones into nets on Navy ships ... Kelly Johnson's D-21 made Mach 4 runs for recon through China (one never came out) but the recovery crews botched the camera package rescue and it sank ...

they'll have to fairly close for awhile ... the solar powered ones can fly for days but can't carry effective payloads yet ... I think the Hellfires weigh about 100lbs each or so (varies with model) ...

right now they make a good supplement to fighting these kinds of battles ... hunting for terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere ... much more practical than jets ... but there are a lot of crashes and the potential for mistakes is always there ...

with all of Saddam's doubles I'd be really surprised if we could nail the right guy with the drones ... and Saddam would order them all out into the open while he stayed in one of the deep underground bunkers ...

[r9etb]

I wonder if the military is working on the ability to launch and recover drones from the tail-ramp of a C-130. Now THAT would be cool. Flying aircraft carrier for drones.

Too much turbulence for them to fly in and land. Cable recovery and underwing mounting, OTOH.....