SWINGING 60’S DRONE OVER IRAQ

Sure, the Pentagon’s lat­est and great­est drones were there. But Gulf War II also saw the remer­gence of an unmanned plane that got its start nearly four decades ago, Defense Tech pal CW notes.
“Vietnam-​​era Firebee drones [flew] over Baghdad to drop radar-​​jamming chaff and, until they ran out of fuel, to cir­cle the city as decoys to draw anti-​​aircraft fire away from coali­tion strike air­craft.“
Jim Pinkerton described the drone last year in the Houston Chronicle:

Called the “Ryan Firebee” after its inven­tor, the drone is 23 feet long with a wingspan of 12 feet. A J-​​2 jet engine, the same type used in small train­ers, pow­ers the Firebee, giv­ing it a range of more than 300 miles. According to the crew, the five drones are the only ones of their kind in the Air Force’s inven­tory.…. Each drone… was pro­grammed to fly to Baghdad, on to Tikrit — Saddam’s home­town and his power base — then back to Baghdad, mak­ing mul­ti­ple passes over the Iraqi capital. 

April 2nd, 2004 | Drones, Retro-Futuro | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.