UAV / UCAV - Drohnen

[Quintus Fabius]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-u-s-air-force-was-not-fond-of-the-next-gen-predator-drone-77cb9a3d10b8">https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-u- ... cb9a3d10b8</a><!-- m -->

The U.S. Air Force Was Not Fond of the Next-Gen Predator Drone
Flying branch blew off General Atomics’ Predator C as too modest, too flimsy

....the Air Force was unimpressed. In late 2011, it bought one Avenger for testing for an estimated $15 million. And by the end of the year, the brass had passed their judgement. The Avenger “offered only minor improvements over the MQ-9,” according to the official history.

Presumably, the Avenger inherited the same shortfalls as the Reaper and Predator when it comes to flying in bad weather and communicating swiftly. And reading between the lines in the official history, it’s apparent the Avenger isn’t stealthy or tough enough to represent a worthwhile improvement over the Reaper, from the government’s point of view.

It can’t fly in bad weather and its satellite-relayed control signal tends to lag, which can cause crashes when operators sitting in trailers in the U.S. can’t respond fast enough to problems.

It’s also possible to hack the Reaper’s video stream … and jam its GPS.