AP: First 'Robot Attack' Bombers Coming to Iraq Soon

[babylonsister]

AP: First 'Robot Attack' Bombers Coming to Iraq Soon

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003611803

By Charles J. Hanley, the Associated Press

Published: July 15, 2007 5:55 PM ET

BALAD AIR BASE: Away from the headlines and debate over the "surge" in U.S. ground troops, the Air Force has quietly built up its hardware inside Iraq, sharply stepped up bombing and laid a foundation for a sustained air campaign in support of American and Iraqi forces. Concerns about civilian casualties from the air are growing, and may already be on the upswing. Longtime AP correspondent, and Pulitzer Prize winner, Charles J. Hanley wrote two exclusives this weekend from Iraq this weekend, and they follow.

The first concerns the world's first "robot attack squadron."

The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph (480 kph) and reach 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). It is outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles.

The Reaper is loaded, but there is no one on board. Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles (11,265 kilometers) away in Nevada.

The arrival of these outsized U.S. "hunter-killer" drones, in aviation history's first robot attack squadron, will be a watershed moment even in an Iraq that has seen too many innovative ways to hunt and kill.

That moment, one the Air Force will likely low-key, is expected "soon," says the regional U.S. air commander. How soon? "We're still working that," Lt. Gen. Gary North said in an interview.

The Reaper's first combat deployment is expected in Afghanistan, and senior Air Force officers estimate it will land in Iraq sometime between this fall and next spring. They look forward to it.

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[icymist]

1. Kind of creepy. n/t

[mr_hat]

2. AQ's #2 guy better watch out.

[Flatulo]

3. I remember when I saw the barrage of Tomahawks launched in Gulf War 1

... thinking "Hey, these are primitive Terminators." You can't reason with them, nor deter them from their mission.

I'm also reminded of the classic Star Trek episode, where the Enterprise visited a system where two worlds had been waging a virtual war for 500 years. Computers identified 'casualties' and they dutifully reported to disintegration centers lest the other side perceive cheating and be forced to send 'real' weapons.

Kirk destroyed the computers, forcing each side to confront each other for 'real' and deal with actual, not virtual horror.

[phildo]

6. Easy pickings for lasers

As with IEDs, a few hundred dollars can toast a million (or much more, in this case).

But great fun in the meantime.

The funny part is the guys in Nevada wear "flight suits" to do their joystick jockey duty.

Must have got that idea from Mr. Mission Accomplished.

:) :) :)

[SoCalDem]

4. Oh SHIT.. Grovelbot's unit might get called up! n/t

[Swamp Rat]

5. Won't be long...

[VTMechEngr]

7. This isn't that new - We have had UAVs armed with missiles for a while.

They took out that guy in Yemen with one armed with Hellfire missiles back in 03 or 04. And we used them in Afghanistan prior to Iraq starting.