The plane is called the Reaper. They will probably be based in Afghanistan and/or Iraq, but piloted from the continental US. It can carry as many as 14 Hellfire missiles. A couple of pictures here.They say it’s about the some size as an A-10.
They must have very high confidence that these things can’t be jammed – at least by guys with AKs and IEDs in huts.
“…and that, son, was how SKYNET began.”
The capability has been around for years, but it’s just now that they’re dedicating an entire squadron’s mission to the Predator/Reaper capability. As a matter of fact, the 119th out of Fargo, ND is converting over to the Predator capability as well.
Tripler
Yup, this is how SkyNET gets it’s feet on the ground. I for one welcome our new sentient, Hellfire-armed overlords.
Yknow, there’s a human at the controls on these things. It’s not a robot, it’s an RC plane.
A Stinger Missile launcher would work with the right ammo.
The BOC logo on the plane in the gizmodo link looks photoshopped to me.
They have a “fly home” mode built in, should they lose communications. IOW, if you can’t call to it, it still comes home like a well-trained dog.
I thought it looked a little cheesy too. Still, a nice touch.
