Anytime you can combine stealth and standoff and loiter and lethality in the same platform, you’ve got a significant winner. Kudos to the MQ-9 Reaper. Looking like a big brother‘ to the MQ-1 Predator, the MQ-9 has three times the speed of the MQ-1, with a 900hp turboprop engine in place of the Predators 119hp Rotax 914. Nice job, Zoomies!
Reaper scores insurgent kill in Afghanistan
Air Force Times Staff report
Posted : Monday Oct 29, 2007 18:59:06 EDT
The Air Forces use of remote-controlled aircraft passed another milestone Saturday with the first air strike flown by an MQ-9 Reaper, the services newest unmanned plane.
According to Central Air Forces, an MQ-9 fired a Hellfire missile at Afghanistan insurgents in the Deh Rawood region of the mountainous Oruzgan province. The strike was successful, CentAF said.
Based at Kandahar Air Field, Reapers have been flying over Afghanistan since Sept. 25. Like the smaller MQ-1 Predator, pilots and sensor operators in Nevada use satellite links to guide the planes on attack and reconnaissance sorties. A second set of deployed aviators control the planes take offs and landings.
The Reaper can carry up to 3,000 pounds of weapons while the MQ-1 is limited to 500 pounds of munitions.
What stealth?
3000 pounds, and it cost how much. Dang buying new P51s and putting computers inside would be more cost effective id think. O well, far be it from me to stand in the way of “progress.”
so we have yet another delivery platform for launching missiles, now if only we knew the location of the targets? we always seem to deliver something that is almost just right. i don’t think we need delivery platforms we just need to know where the targets are…it’s all about finding legitimate targets really.
A hellfire is great for taking out a vehicle (Yemen) or a small structure (Zawahiri strike that failed to get him, due to perishable intel), but nothing beats an I2K GBU-31 or 2k lb JDAM to get the job done.
The critical improvements here on the reaper are much higher speed, altitude, range and payload capacity.
It means that time to target is reduced and lethality is increased, as well as getting a bigger strike radius than previous.
With turbo-prop, this aircraft will operate in a greater performance envelope that the predator.
Agree that without good intel, you are just punching holes in the ground (or worse).
Now if they can get that OBL detection sensor working…
To put it in practical terms, suppose we get fresh intel that OBL or Zawahiri is located at x for an undetermined amount of time. Reaper can get to the target in 1/3rd the time the Predator could. It is likely we have had good intel on HVT’s in the past but could not put a Predator on the target in time for the shoot.
We may have already killed Zawahiri or other AQ VIPs if this platform was available.
What stealth? Extremely small radar cross section, engine that emits an extremely low amount of thermal energy — yeah, I’d say its stealthy.
Regarding standoff and loiter capability, imagine this aerial vehicle launches from Balad or some other field in central Iraq. With a straight-line range of 3,600 miles, what do you think that equates to in loiter time? What does that give the commander in the field in terms of on-call strike capability? Hours and hours and hours and hours of loiter time. When you DO get that time-sensitive intelligence that X is located, you have a weapon already in place or available for tasking. Its a good deal.
We need thousands of these bad boys in Iraq, Afghan, and other dark places.
How come the military has too much crap that we don’t need and use, and never enough of the things we do need, and can use effectively?
I still cannot understand why anyone on patrol gets ambushed?
“Extremely small radar cross section, engine that emits an extremely low amount of thermal energy?
Huh? Are we looking at the same thing? Where are you getting this stuff??
Just looking at it you can tell the RCS is pretty significant — and with a couble of LGBs hanging on the underside it has no chance of being stealthy anyway.
And where do you get the 900 hp engine having low thermal output?
I have to agree that stealthiness was not the overrriding priority in this design.
It may be stealthier than the Predator, but the high aspect ratio wing, external weapons load, prop and engine inlet definitely increases it’s RCS.
The long span wing gives it great lift,fuel efficiency and longer range, which translates into higher loiter time and lower cruise and landing speeds. The drawback is cruise and max speed is reduced.
When we have air supremacy over Iraq and Afghanistan, who cares if it is stealthy enough?
It flies high enough to be unseen and unheard from the ground, yet still can perform the mission. For older generation MANPADS that require LOS observation before IR lock-on (e.g., SA-14), this platform is good enough to defeat them.
One other critical factor is icing…at the outset of the predator program, the aircraft could not fly in a wide range of icing conditions and altitudes, greatly decreasing its effectiveness (and availability). The turbo (PT6A?) is more reliable, less maintenance intensive and can allow the reaper to fly above the weather, if necessary.
Not sure if de-icing technology is installed on this version.
The other clear design goal was to increase the payload capacity to allow the Reaper to carry LGB’s or JDAMs, unlike the predator, who’s payload limitations allowed it to carry hellfires or weapons loads of similar size.
These missiles have a limited range and effectiveness and therefore the attack envelope is reduced.
With guided bombs, this aircraft has a higher stand-off range and can attack at much higher altitudes. This allows it to go undetected before it reaches out and punches you harder, in any weather conditions.
With hellfire, you first have to have sensors locked on the target to shoot, not to mention this was a weapons systems originally designed for a helicopter and not a fixed wing aircraft.