The MQ-9 Reaper taxies into Creech Air Force Base, Nev., home to the newly reactivated 432nd Wing. The 432nd Wing consists of six operations squadrons and a maintenance squadron for the Air Force fleet of 60 MQ-1 Predator and six MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles. U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Larry E. Reid Jr. Source: USAF (Photo from The Predator UAV)In The International News:
After one of the latest U.S. Predator attacks in North Waziristan, a Taliban commander visited the site. He’s seen the results of many air strikes over the past year or two, but this one really impressed him.
The missile didn’t just hit the right house; it scored a direct hit on the very room where Mustafa al-Misri (“Mustafa the Egyptian”) and several other Qaeda operatives were holed up. The hit was so accurate, the commander says, it’s as if someone had tossed a GPS device against the wall. Unfortunately for others at the scene, the mud-and-stone house collapsed, killing several Afghans along with the foreign fighters. Nevertheless, the subcommander told Newsweek, “We are stunned” by such precision.
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My Comment: This story is impressive (if true). But even if the reporter exaggerates a little bit, the Predator UAV fleet is still an incredible and effective weapons platform that can only get better with time.
I can now understand why there is a crash program to churn out as many of these vehicles as possible .... and to train the pilots to fly them. In guerrilla wars and low intensity conflicts, these weapon platforms control the high ground, operate with no fear, are difficult to shoot down, operate 24/7, and when they have their target painted they have a very high kill rate.
What more can a commander ask.
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