Mon, May 18, 2009
An Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft is reported to have
crashed Thursday, May 14th, in eastern Afghanistan.
The crash was not due to hostile fire but no other potential
cause has been mentioned.
The MQ-1 Predator is a medium-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned
aircraft system. The MQ-1's primary mission is interdiction and
conducting armed reconnaissance against critical, perishable
targets. When the MQ-1 is not actively pursuing its primary
mission, it acts as the Joint Forces Air Component Commander-owned
theater asset for reconnaissance, surveillance and target
acquisition in support of the Joint Forces commander.
The Air Force notes that the MQ-1 Predator 'is a system, not
just an aircraft.' A fully operational system consists of four
aircraft (with sensors), a ground control station, a Predator
Primary Satellite Link, or PPSL, along with operations and
maintenance crews for deployed 24-hour operations. The basic crew
for the Predator is one pilot and two sensor operators. They fly
the aircraft from inside the ground control station via a
line-of-sight data link or a satellite data link for beyond
line-of-sight flight. The aircraft is equipped with a color nose
camera (generally used by the pilot for flight control), a day
variable-aperture TV camera, a variable-aperture infrared camera
(for low light/night), and other sensors as the mission
requires. The cameras produce full-motion video.
A board of Air Force officials will be convened to investigate
the incident.
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