U.S. Admits Iran has a drone in perfect working condition and now another Predator malfunctions over the Indian ocean. (
worldnews.msnbc.msn.com) NAIROBI, Kenya -- An American military drone that had been used to monitor piracy off the East African coast has crashed at an airport on the island nation of Seychelles during a routine patrol, officials said Tuesday.
The U.S. Embassy in Mauritius said the unmanned U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper was not armed and that the crash caused no injuries. The crash sparked a fire that was quickly extinguished.
Lina Laurence of Seychelles' civilian aviation authority said the drone developed engine problems minutes into its flight and needed to land as soon as possible Tuesday morning.
"But due to its accelerated landing speed, the aircraft was unable to stop before the runway's end," Laurence said.
The embassy's statement said the cause of the crash is being investigated.
"It has been confirmed that this drone was unarmed and its failure was due to mechanical reasons," Laurence said.
The affected runway was closed for about 10 minutes as a "precautionary measure," but was later reopened with no disruption to airport operations, Laurence said.
The U.S. military and the civilian aviation authority of Seychelles have coordinated to remove the debris, officials said.
While U.S. Air Force officials attempt to determine the cause of the crash, initial reports indicate that upon landing the drone failed to stop and ran off the runway into large rocks along the shoreline, U.S. officials said in Washington.
The MQ-9 Reaper is a medium-to-high altitude unmanned aircraft system with sensors that can provide real-time data. The Seychelles-based MQ-9s, which are used to monitor piracy activities in and around the Indian Ocean, don't carry weapons, though they have the capability to do so.
Tuesday's crash follows last week's claim by Iran that it seized a drone identified as the RQ-170 Sentinel. Tehran said it was captured over the country's east. The nearly intact drone was displayed on state TV and flaunted as a victory for Iran in a complicated intelligence and technological battle with the U.S.
U.S. officials said the unmanned aircraft malfunctioned and was not
brought down by Iran. President Barack Obama said Monday the U.S. wants
the top-secret aircraft back and has delivered a formal request for the
return of the surveillance drone, though it isn't hopeful that Iran will
comply.
The U.S. has used drones to hunt down al-Qaida-linked
militants in Somalia and Yemen, among other countries. Their humming is a
constant feature in the sky in many of the major towns in southern
Somalia, especially the capital city and the militant-controlled
southern port of Kismayo. It was not clear if drones operated out of the
Seychelles are used for that purpose.
NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski contributed to this story from The Associated Press.
Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!
Main Sources via (designation-systems.net) [1]
Tom Kaminski: "The Future is Here", article in Combat Aircraft Vol. 4,
No. 6, 2003 [2] Department of Defense Missile Nomenclature Records [3]
"Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap, 2005-2030", Office of the Secretary
of Defense, August 2005
The Predator B is essentially a scaled-up derivative of the RQ/MQ-1 Predator, the major difference in layout being the more conventional upward V-tail. GA-ASI has flown Predator B prototypes with two different powerplants, the first one with a Honeywell TPE-331-10T turboprop and the second one with a Williams FJ44-2A turbofan. The basic equipment suite of the Predator B is similar to that of the RQ/MQ-1 Predator, and the primary mission equipment consists of a Raytheon AN/AAS-52(V) MTS (Multi-Spectral Targeting System) EO/IR sensor turret/laser designator and a General Atomics AN/APY-8 Lynx SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar). The Predator B can also be used as an armed multi-mission UAV, launching AGM-114C/K Hellfire missiles and other guided weapons. The Predator B is compatible with the ground-based communications equipment of the MQ-1B Predator system, so that it can supplement and/or replace the latter relatively seamlessly
After the U.S. Air Force had successfully "weaponized" its RQ-1 Predator, it became interested in the more powerful Predator B. In February 2003, the designation MQ-9A was allocated to the turboprop-powered variant of the Predator B (the USAF was not interested in the turbofan version), and later that year two YMQ-9A prototypes were purchased. These aircraft are being evaluated by the Air Force, and at least four additional more airframes have been delivered so far. Current orders cover at least 20 MQ-9 aircraft, and the planned total production is 60 airframes. The YMQ-9A has significantly higher performance than the original Predator. It has a mission endurance of 24 hours at a maximum altitude of 13700 m (45000 ft), and GA-ASI claims a total endurance of up to 30 hours. In 2006, the USAF assigned the official "popular name" Reaper to the MQ-9 UAV.
Note: Frequently the designation MQ-9B is mentioned for the Predator B (or its projected production version). However, this designation is not yet allocated to any Predator B variant.
Data for YMQ-9A:
