Are we starting to see UAVs being used throughout the United States? Over the past two weeks or so I have received several inquiries referencing cigar-shaped craft seen during the daylight hours in several states including Indiana, Virginia, Minnesota and California. I realize that the United States government is using some types of UAV technology on the US-Mexico/Canadian borders and are testing at Creech AFB in Nevada but activity over other many parts of the country are a bit disconcerting.
Several of the sightings have been described as having a buzzing sound and others mentioned that the aircraft looked like 'cruise missiles'. Below is part of a recent article the details the MQ-9 Reaper. I have also included other images of UAVs and one reader image.
MQ-9 Reaper is the Badass of Military Drones
singularityhub - War is not a video game…but it’s starting to look more and more like one. The prevalence of unmanned aerial vehicles in the US military has changed the landscape of war forever, and no UAV demonstrates that more clearly than the MQ-9 Reaper. Born from the Predator drones that have spied on and targeted terrorists and insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, the MQ-9 Reaper represents the next step in remote plane technology. And that step is rigged to explode. The Reaper carries more ordinance than any other unmanned vehicle in the air, 3000+ lbs of explosives, or 14 Hellfire missiles. Standard Predators carry 2 or less. Each of these missiles are capable of taking out anything from snipers to tanks. The MQ-9 is the modern hunter-killer, made all the more remarkable because its pilots fly the UAVs in utter safety from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. When people ask me about the future of war I point to the Reaper. Unmanned, heavily armed, covered in surveillance equipment – it’s able to spy or strike anywhere in the world. Watch the MQ-9 demonstrate its prowess in the videos below. Drones have already changed the shape of war; the next generation of UAVs like the Reaper may make it unrecognizable.
The Predator series of drones, including the MQ-9 Reaper, have been an integral part of the recent wars in the Middle East. Earlier this spring, these UAVs hit a historic milestone: 1,000,000 hours in the air. One million. That’s 80,000+ missions, 80% of which were flown in combat situations. Sometimes Predators and Reapers are just eyes in the sky, scouting terrain, and finding targets. More and more, however, these drones are delivering air to ground missiles to hostile targets. Since 2005, the US Air Force has been phasing out F-16 fighter jets (just a dozen or so at a time) and replacing them with Predator series drones. These new hunter-killers are one of the clearest examples of US military superiority to Taliban and other military forces in the region.
