At a purely ergonomic level, the controls of an MQ-9 Reaper drone are actually neither as sophisticated nor as sensitive as state-of-the-art gaming controllers. More important is the human dimension. When Reaper crews have followed someone for days or weeks, their target is not just pixels on a screen but a living human being. Operators watch targets spend time with family and friends and even playing with their children.
Crews, commanders and image analysts also continue to watch from above after a missile or bomb strike, conducting battle damage assessment. They see the bits of bodies being collected and taken for burial. They see grieving, devastated family members. And they know it is no game with a reset button.
As a result, operating a drone carries real risks. For one thing, terrorists have tried to target Reaper pilots and published a hit-list. But more prevalent is the psychological risk in repeatedly witnessing traumatising events and lethal strikes in close-up detail.
These psychological effects are not yet fully understood but the risk is there. It does. It has to. The additional range offered by the LongShot program would certainly prove a desirable asset to U. Second, launching air-to-air missiles closer to the adversary increases energy in terminal flight, reduces reaction time, and increases probability of kill. For more on the program and its history, I highly recommend this great piece from our colleagues at The War Zone.
Contact the author here. However, since it has been equipped with two Hellfire II missiles, meaning it can strike at a range of up to 8km five miles. By contrast, the newer MQ-9 Reaper was conceived as a "hunter-killer" system. Its cruise speed is kph mph , much faster than the kph mph of the Predator which is more vulnerable to being shot down at low altitudes - although the drones would usually be flown above the range of most of the weapons available to the Taliban.
The US Army revealed in December that it was also developing new helicopter-style drones with 1. Three of the A Hummingbird sensor-equipped drones are due to go into service in Afghanistan in either May or June this year. The drones will take advantage of the Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance-Imaging System first or Argus-IS , which can provide real-time video streams at the rate of 10 frames a second. The army said that was enough to track people and vehicles from altitudes above 20, feet 6.
It said the infrared imaging sensors would be sensitive enough to follow "dismounted personnel at night". British forces also use a variety of remotely piloted aircraft. The Hermes is being upgraded to the Watchkeeper which, like the Reaper, can be armed. It is due to enter service in The RAF also uses the higher-spec Reaper aircraft.
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