Afghanistan Blog #3

Two days ago a Predator, Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle crashed in Eastern Afghanistan. The crash occurred while the aircraft was on a regular patrol of eastern Afghanistan. The cause of the accident is unknown but was not a result of hostile fire and it is being investigated by the United States Air Force. There were no casualties as a result of the crash and there was no damage to any sort of property. The Predator U.C.A.V. is a medium altitude, long range, unmanned armed surveillance aircraft. The Predator is flown by all service branches by a human “pilot” that uses a joystick and a video screen. The Predator’s main job is to fly into areas that would endanger a pilot’s life, such as an area that has been hit by chemical and/or biological weapons, stay in the air to provide surveillance and if needed it has the ability to hold three Hellfire missiles. The Predators have been recently criticized because of some recent incidents in which they have been attacking targets and some of the attacks have resulted in collateral damage or damage to property. As a result of new technologies becoming available, and these recent “miss-haps” have lead to the introduction of a new U.C.A.V., the Predator-C, which has jut made it maiden-flight. In addition to new targeting sensors, the new Predator is equipped with stealth technology, a jet engine that allows it to fly for twenty hours and the engine also allows for heavier weapon loads, which will aid the aircraft in fulfilling multiple roles that the older version simply could not do. This shows the coming of age of a new kind of warfare, and it will be unmanned.