The mq-9 alpha the reaper is a remotely piloted medium altitude long endurance UAV(Unmanned aerial Vehicle) designed for intelligence surveillance target acquisition and reconnaissance otherwise known as istar and certain attack missions the mq-9 reaper represents the cutted edge Of unmanned aerial vehicle technology but the idea of using unmanned entities of waging war in the air isn’t really new.
Get to know MQ-9 Reaper
Interesting story for you in the early days of the United States involvement in World War II president Franklin D Roosevelt approved research into a plan to release bomb-wielding bats from airplanes the bombs which were small Kerosene-filled incendiary tubes that operated on a chemical time release fuse were connected to a surgical clip with a short piece of string and the bat chest was attached with a clip. The idea was to cool the bats down into a state of forced hibernation initiate the chemical fuse attach the device load the placid bats onto a plane and then release them over a target area ideally the bats would seek shelter in Buildings chew through the strings separate themselves from the devices and then the device would detonate setting the enemy infrastructure on fire what actually happened was a bunch of hibernating bomb-laden bats given drops into their death from an airplane six thousand bomb rigged bats gave their lives. In these military experiments fast forward to today and we have much more sophisticated systems but it did give some lessons learned.
General information of MQ-9 Reaper
| Role: | Unmanned combat aerial vehicle |
| Country: | United States |
| Manufacturer: | General Atomics Aeronautical Systems |
| First flight: | 2 February 2001 |
| Introduction: | 1 May 2007 |
| Status: | In service |
| Cost: | Costs around 45 Million dollars |
| Developed from: | MQ-1 Predator |
| Number built: | 195+ |
Development of MQ-9 Reaper
To talk about the mq-9 reaper we must talk about its predecessor the mq-1 predator which was designed and produced by General Atomics which rolled out in august 1994. Production of a 100 horsepower version of the United States air force and U.S navy variants was ordered in 1997 after a handful of pre-production aircraft have been deployed for service over Bosnia in 1996.
By summer 2001 successful trials of the Agm-114 hellfire and on-board targeting systems were complete and the predator had fired missiles in anger against targets in Afghanistan before year end while the mq_9 was being weaponised general atomics was working on a new UAV designed the predator B the title was in fact a masoma.
Since the aircraft brought little in common with the mq-1 apart from its general configuration predator B featured a 900 shaft Horsepower TPE-331 turboprop and was designed for a heavy payload of sensors and weapons. The United states air force committed to the predator-b program under the designation of the mq-9 reaper work on the prototypes was well underway in 2001 and the type became available for operations in 2007. Many discussions came to be about replacing a10s and other close air support vehicles with UAVs in general but of course this was a completely ridiculous stance because drones can’t do everything. Now one of the things that was noticed aside from the quick ambush of unsuspecting targets was that predators don’t pack much of a punch so the mq-9 reaper which was designed to address this issue was actually a more capable aircraft of engaging for longer periods of time.
MQ-9 Reaper Cost & Specification
| Crew: | 0 onboard, 2 in ground station |
| Length: | 36 ft 1 in (11 m) |
| Wingspan: | 65 ft 7 in (20 m) |
| Height: | 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) |
| Empty weight: | 43,340 lb (19,700 kg) |
| Max takeoff weight: | 10,494 lb (4,760 kg) |
| Fuel capacity: | 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) |
| Engine/Powerplant: | 1 × Honeywell TPE331-10 turboprop, 900 hp (671 kW) |
Further targets which of course the predator did not have that capability the reaper was more of a hunter killer with surveillance capabilities and was more designated as an engagement vehicle than it was in a surveillance vehicle especially during the times of Iraq and Afghanistan the 140 mile per hour or 225 kilometers speed of the predator was suitable for hovering back and forth in the sky searching for troop movements and giving the coordinates to nearby fighter jets however the 300 mile per hour of 482 kilometer speed of the reaper on the other hand is better suited for quickly targeting and destroying enemy personnel and vehicles that are on the move the reaper can fly about nine times farther and twice as high as the predator and doesn’t require as many fighter jets for backup it’s proved its muscle time and time again throughout all operational conflicts that it’s been involved in one important thing to remember about the reaper and the predator as well is that the reaper is a weapon system not just an individual drone which you see in the sky.
Infrastructure of MQ-9 Reaper
Each reaper system consists of four individual reaper drones operated by four different flight teams the whole system alone costs around 45 Million dollars just to build let alone the infrastructure so it was an extremely expensive program which is why a lot of people say that it is actually cheaper to use aircraft with pilots in that it is drones and the cost of value to life is where we start getting complex and we’re not going to talk about that today the reapers are deployed in groups of four each reaper which is similar in Size to a small business jet is controlled by its own two airmen which are team located in ground control stations around the world the teams are actually able to switch control of the drone mid-flight so a team at an air base in Iraq may be responsible for taking some landings from its base but then hand over control to a team in the united states why would they do this you ask well remember that the operation.
MQ-9 Reaper Performance
| Maximum speed: | 240kts |
| Range: | 1,200 mi (1,900 km, 1,000 nmi) |
| Cruise speed: | 194 mph (313 km/h, 169 kn) |
| Endurance: | 27 hours fully loaded |
| Max altitude: | 50,000 ft (15,420 m) |
| Operational altitude: | 25,000 ft (7.5 km) |
Surveillance
These UAVs are in motion 24 hours a day it’s more efficient to have some teams dedicated to getting them airborne and bringing them back down safely and others dedicated to complete a specific mission. The duration of its mission which lasts normally about a full 24-hour day a crew responsible for take-offs and landings may have absolutely no idea where the aircraft has been in the interim period the crews receive visual information about the reaper’s surroundings by way of a satellite link the pilot is able to fly the craft using a colored feed provided by the camera located in the front portion of the reaper what’s more the reaper can transmit.
Surveillance footage directly onto a soldier’s laptop in the field if necessary a variety of sensors on board the reaper provide real-time data for operators analyze the reaper has infrared capabilities. The reaper collects data and sends back live feeds enablie military to react immediately to ongoing mission. This is why the reaper is very accustomed to doing very long distance patrols or standoff patrolling which allows these aircraft to fly for long periods of time.
Avionics
Keeping an eye in the sky or combat capability in the sky a lot longer than that would be of a fighter aircraft the crew itself comprises of a pilot sense operator and missile intelligence coordinator which flies the reaper from a remote ground control system the operational crew controls the aircraft its sensors and weapon systems via the advanced secure satellite communication system providing the over horizon data link capability from bases across the world the two cameras in the aircraft’s forward fuselage provide the forward view for the crew of the landing and takeoff while a full sensor suite with targeting daylight TV and infrared capabilities is a turret mounted beneath the reaper’s forward fuselage.
An internal synthetic aperture radar completes the mq-9 reaper sensor suite the reaper can be outfitted with Different mission kits depending on what mission it will be for instance it could be equipped with a mix of weapons and surveillance equipment depending on whether it’s a mission to destroy or to actually secretly locate locations of an enemy on the other hand it can be armed with four or even potentially eight hellfire missiles which recently just got released.
Battlefield
From the United States national defense saying that they are able to carry just as much as a actual fighter aircraft in terms of hellfire missiles which is pretty impressive we look at the a10 and they can pack a lot of equipment on that thing it looks like the reaper is starting to catch up the dual purpose of the reaper is best understood when it’s compared to the predator in action.
In June 2006 a predator tracked and located the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq however the predator flight crew had to request assistance from the mission for the f-16s because the predator didn’t have enough explosive ordnance to destroy the safe house where he was hiding it turned out that the Al-Qaeda leader was killed by the f-16 but the delay could have allowed him to make the getaway with this type of scenario in mind the reaper was designated to eliminate any delay in tracking the target striking it and it can do just about everything in between the UAV’s original purpose was reconnaissance and although its design has shifted to reflect the emphasis on attack reapers are adept at high flight spying this ability can be put to use in several ways.
Weapon
The reaper was used in battle zones and manhunts in both Iraq and Afghanistan today the use of the weapons systems could be more widespread than that but because reaper’s missions are carried out completely covertly. We can’t really be sure the aircraft is powered by a 950 horsepower turboprop aircraft with a maximum speed of 260 knots or 480 kilometers or 300 miles per hour and a cruise speed of around 200 miles per hour or 310 kilometers an hour
It has a 66 foot wingspan and a maximum payload of 3 800 pounds or 1700 kilograms and can be armed with a variety of weaponry including obviously the hellfire missiles and laser-guided bomb units the endurance of the aircraft is 30 hours when conducting any missions which decreases to 23 hours If it’s carrying a full load of weapons the reaper has an extortionate range of 1 000 nautical miles or 1850 kilometers and an operational altitude of 50000 feet or 15000 meters which makes it especially useful for long-term loitering operations both for surveillance and support of ground troops but what is the future for this beautiful little drone well.
General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper in Action
Reference
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