 "Over the past year, our Predator fleet has averaged over 16,500 hours per month," Colonel Gersten said. "This incredible rate is a testament to our commitment ... to keeping our ground troops safe under our watchful eye." |
The last 200,000 Predator hours were flown in just over 12 months compared to 19 months to fly the previous 250,000 hours and 12.5 years for the first 250,000 hours.
Remotely piloted aircraft are one of the most demanded assets on today's battlefield, said Col. Peter Gersten, commander of the 432nd Wing and the 432nd Air Expeditionary Wing.
"Over the past year, our Predator fleet has averaged over 16,500 hours per month," Colonel Gersten said. "This incredible rate is a testament to our commitment ... to keeping our ground troops safe under our watchful eye."
The MQ-1B's primary mission is to provide armed reconnaissance, airborne surveillance and target acquisition to commanders in the field. The Predator can be armed with two laser-guided AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and carries the Multispectral Targeting System, which integrates electro-optical, infrared, laser designator and illuminator into a single sensor package.
The unarmed version of the Predator, designated the RQ-1, recently flew missions over Haiti, successfully providing relief officials key intelligence to help direct resources to earthquake victims who needed it most.
 del.icio.us |
 Digg |
 Reddit |
 YahooMyWeb |
 Google |
 Facebook |
C2-C4ISR Systems Constitutes Around 5 Percent Of National Defence Budgets| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |