100TH PREDATOR COMPLETED SPY PLANE WILL GO TO THE AIR FORCE.Byline: Daily News General Atomics General Atomics is a nuclear physics and defense contractor headquartered in San Diego, California. Among other things, it is the manufacturer of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Aeronautical aer·o·nau·tic also aer·o·nau·ti·cal adj. Of or relating to aeronautics. aer  o·nau Systems announced last week that it has produced the 100th Predator remotely piloted aircraft for the U.S. Air Force. Predator 100 is to be flown from the company's flight operations facility near Lake Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. to Indian Springs Air Force Base in Nevada for delivery to the U.S. Air Force. Guided by pilots on the ground, Predator spy planes have been in service since 1995 with the Air Force, which has used them in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. They have also been armed with anti-tank missiles for use in the Middle East. The U.S. Navy and the Italian Air Force
The Air Force is developing the larger MQ-9 Hunter Killer Predator B prop-jet aircraft, designed to carry weapons for attacking targets on the ground. Mariner, a version of the Predator B, is equipped with color and infrared cameras plus a surface-search radar, intended for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and the Homeland Security organization. General Atomics also announced the award of a contract with the Canadian Forces to deploy the company's Altair unmanned aircraft, a variant of Predator B, in support of the Atlantic Littoral littoral /lit·to·ral/ (lit´ah-r'l) pertaining to the shore of a large body of water. littoral pertaining to the shore. Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance Experiment (ALIX ALIX Anion Liquid Ion Exchange ). Altair will carry a maritime radar and an infrared camera for watching the coast and ocean off eastern Canada. The deployment will commence in August. Launched from a main operating base Main Operating Base (MOB) is a term used by the United States military defined as "an overseas, permanently manned, well protected base, used to support permanently deployed forces, and with robust sea and/or air access. at Goose Bay, Newfoundland, and flown on an instrument flight plan, control of the aircraft and payload will be passed to an Ottawa-based remote operations center for satellite communication operations. The surface-search radar and camera video imagery will be passed to two remote video terminals. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) The Air Force has used General Atomics' remote-control Predator spy planes in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. Predators also have been armed with anti-tank missiles in the Mideast. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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