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.

FMI: www.af.mil