Sun rising on plans for unmanned planes

[unhappycamper]

Airman 1st Class Justin Cole, Tech. Sgt. Marcus Cottengim and Chief Master Sgt. Roy Cupper pre-flight an MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle Nov. 5, 2007 at Ali Base, Iraq. The Predators are now fully operational and have begun 24-hour operations. The Airmen are deployed from Creech Air Force Base, Nev.


Sun rising on plans for unmanned planes
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, October 12, 2008

TOKYO — In July, the Air Force’s newest unmanned plane, the MQ-9 Reaper, flew its first mission over Iraq.

This beefier version of the older Predator had been in Afghanistan for months, logging 3,800 hours, the Air Force said at the time. In addition to bolstering the military’s 24-hour aerial surveillance, the 10 new Reapers each can carry six times the weapons weight as the Predator.

But before the Air Force celebrated the Iraq mission for its newest drone, it issued a notice: It wants a more flexible, weather-hardy unmanned plane in the next seven years.

In May, the Air Force Materiel Command called for submissions for a drone that can better adapt to specific missions and survey a more varied terrain.

The overall goal is to add 50 new combat air patrols, or CAPS, units staffed with three to four planes. With those CAPS, and additional planes for training and testing, it means the Air Force is looking at 270 new unmanned planes in its fleet. Some will be some flying by 2015, according to Lt. Col. Ken Kilmurray, a deputy chief at the Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58064

[amdezurik]

1. YAY! Easier remote controlled death!

Now it is even easier to kill little kids and wedding parties by "mistake" from 3,000 miles away! What a GREAT DAY (tm) for the WOOOOORLD! I hear General Electric has a robotic "oops, they must have all been terriersts" delivery system too...

[Crowman1979]

2. Armed unmanned planes are a bad idea.

How about ones with better observation abilities to prove if there is an actual threat on the ground. Plus it doesn't help to use torture to find information or rely on the word of those with tribal grudges that have nothing to do with terrorism.

We could easily use this technology to drop off food to hungry people in africa before rebels seize it and sell it off to the black market.