April 23,
2008: A quarter of the MQ-9 Reaper UAVs in service were destroyed in
accidents during the last month. Two went down in Iraq, and one British Reaper
crash landed in Afghanistan. Some kind of "mechanical failure" is suspected in
all these cases. The Reaper has been in development for seven years, and flying
for six. But many changes have been made to the aircraft over that time, so the
thousands of hours flown so far are less of a guarantee that all potential
problems have been found.
Within the
next two years, the U.S. Air Force plans
to buy up to 70 MQ-9 Reapers (or Predator B). While the original Predator was a
reconnaissance aircraft that could carry weapons (two Hellfire missiles, each
weighing a hundred pounds), the Reaper was designed as a combat aircraft that also does reconnaissance. The 4.7 ton
Reaper has a wingspan of 66 feet and a payload of 1.7 tons. The Reaper can
carry over half a ton of GPS or laser guided 500 pound bombs, as well as the
250 pound SDB, or Hellfire missiles.
Predators cost about $4.5 million each (with sensors, about half as much
without), while the Reaper goes for about $8.5 million (with sensors). The
Reaper can only stay in the air for up to 24 hours. But experience has shown
that few missions require 24 hours endurance. For that reason, the air force
decided not to give the Reaper an inflight refueling capability. The Reaper
also carries sensors equal to those found in targeting pods like the Sniper XL
or Litening, and flies at the same 20,000 foot altitude of most fighters using
those pods. This makes the Reaper immune to most ground fire, and capable of
seeing, and attacking, anything down there. All at one tenth of the price of a
manned fighter aircraft. The air force
expects to stop buying the Predator in three years, and switch over to the
Reaper, and the new U.S. Army Sky Warrior (or "Predator C").
