Photo: General Atomics
The world of military drones is a very diverse one at the time of writing, and chances are the offer will continue to diversify as conflicts become more and more complicated. But many of today's drones owe their existence to the pioneers of the breed, the ones born decades ago.
The MQ-9 Reaper, also known as the Predator B, is one of the oldest military drones currently in operation. Made by defense contractor General Atomics as an unmanned aerial vehicle, the Reaper has been around since 2001, and entered service in 2007.
The thing is turboprop-powered and uses a Honeywell engine to move about in the skies of the world. In the standard configuration, it is capable of flying for as much as 27 hours at speeds that can reach 276 mph (444 kph).
The drone can climb to an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,240 meters), carrying with it, attached to external hardpoints, a payload of about 3,850 pounds (1,746 kg). Said payload is most of the time surveillance gear, but the drone can be armed for strikes with Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs.
Being so old means that over the years a number of variants have been produced. The youngest is the Mojave Unmanned Aircraft System, which was recently tested for firing capabilities at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
It's a variant called Extended Range (ER) that's of interest to us today, because General Atomics just announced it has delivered the first example to the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). It's something that took place back in March, but it has only now been made public.
The ER is a variant of the Reaper that has been designed to be field-retrofittable. That means it can also carry wing-borne fuel pods, for instance, but it also comes with a reinforced landing gear.
The cherry on the cake is the weapon platform's endurance, which stands at 34 hours, significantly more than the standard version, using full-motion video and synthetic aperture radar to keep tabs on the enemy.
Like all the other variants, the MQ-9 Reaper is very friendly with its operators thanks to a fault-tolerant control system, and pretty safe to fly on account of the triple redundant avionics.
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) already ordered 38 of them, but the USMC needs far fewer. Just eight of them are to be fielded by this military branch (they are, however, part of an indefinite-quantity contract), with the one shipped back in March being the first.
The drone is now fielded by the Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Training Squadron 2 (VMUT-2), a military unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock, North Carolina.
General Atomics did not say when the rest of the drones would make their way into the Marines’ hands.
The thing is turboprop-powered and uses a Honeywell engine to move about in the skies of the world. In the standard configuration, it is capable of flying for as much as 27 hours at speeds that can reach 276 mph (444 kph).
The drone can climb to an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,240 meters), carrying with it, attached to external hardpoints, a payload of about 3,850 pounds (1,746 kg). Said payload is most of the time surveillance gear, but the drone can be armed for strikes with Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs.
Being so old means that over the years a number of variants have been produced. The youngest is the Mojave Unmanned Aircraft System, which was recently tested for firing capabilities at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
It's a variant called Extended Range (ER) that's of interest to us today, because General Atomics just announced it has delivered the first example to the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). It's something that took place back in March, but it has only now been made public.
The ER is a variant of the Reaper that has been designed to be field-retrofittable. That means it can also carry wing-borne fuel pods, for instance, but it also comes with a reinforced landing gear.
The cherry on the cake is the weapon platform's endurance, which stands at 34 hours, significantly more than the standard version, using full-motion video and synthetic aperture radar to keep tabs on the enemy.
Like all the other variants, the MQ-9 Reaper is very friendly with its operators thanks to a fault-tolerant control system, and pretty safe to fly on account of the triple redundant avionics.
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) already ordered 38 of them, but the USMC needs far fewer. Just eight of them are to be fielded by this military branch (they are, however, part of an indefinite-quantity contract), with the one shipped back in March being the first.
The drone is now fielded by the Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Training Squadron 2 (VMUT-2), a military unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock, North Carolina.
General Atomics did not say when the rest of the drones would make their way into the Marines’ hands.
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