Bringing UAVs to life

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An MQ-1 Predator fuselage awaits installation of electronics, engine and wings on the integration floor of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems production facility in San Diego, Calif.


Bringing UAVs to life
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Nov 6, 2008 11:01:59 EST

Perhaps no technological development of the last 20 years has changed the nature of warfare as profoundly as the rise of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Gone are the days when an aircraft’s persistence over a target is limited by the pilot’s endurance, or when an enemy soldier or insurgent can feel safe from harm if he doesn’t hear jet engines or see contrails overhead.

UAVs can loiter over a target —unheard and unseen — for 24 or more hours, waiting for the precise moment to deliver a Hellfire missile or guided bomb onto an unsuspecting enemy.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems stands at the center of this revolution. When Defense Secretary Robert Gates talks about the importance of UAVs to the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, he is speaking first and foremost about General Atomics’ MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper.

Air Force Times got a rare opportunity to see Predators, Reapers and Army MQ-1C Sky Warriors take shape at the General Atomics production facility in a nondescript San Diego office park.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/11/airforce_predator_110608/%2e