Iraq: August 27, 2001

Archives

Iraq has finally shot down a US aircraft near their southern city of Basra. But they didn't get a pilot because what they brought down was a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), piloted by someone on the ground over a hundred miles away. The RQ-1 Predator is one of the more successful reconnaissance UAVs. A  second generation Predator is being tested that carries missiles for attacking ground targets. The Predator weighs a little over a ton fully loaded and has a range of 700 kilometers. Top speed is 200 kilometers as hour. Each RQ-1 unit costs $25 million and has four Predators, 55 troops and lots of electronic equipment for controlling the aircraft and transmitting data (via satellite) to users. The RQ-1 is 27 feet long and has a 49 foot wingspan.  Meanwhile, American  warplanes hit air defense targets in northern Iraq. 

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close