RAF Makes £500m Bid For Drone Bombers

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
London Daily Telegraph
January 8, 2008 By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
The RAF has made a £500 million bid for a squadron of drone aircraft to seek and destroy Taliban forces in Afghanistan, it has been disclosed.
An "urgent operational requirement" has been made by Air Force chiefs to purchase 10 Reaper aircraft, which could play a major role in defeating the insurgents in Helmand.
Commanders have been desperate for the cutting-edge technology that the most advanced ''unmanned aerial vehicle" would give.
The Reaper can fly faster, higher and for longer than its predecessors and carries a deadly array of weapons
Packed with sophisticated eavesdropping and surveillance equipment the aircraft, which could be directed by an operator in London, can drop laser-guided bombs or missiles on to Taliban targets.
On several occasions in the past year military commanders have been frustrated at having to wait for up to an hour for fighters to get over a target that has been located by surveillance aircraft.
RAF crews working alongside American Reaper operators have become considerably impressed with aircraft working from the base in Kandahar.
With a turboprop jet engine, the Reaper, the size of an executive jet, can fly at 250mph and carry four Hellfire missiles and two 500lb bombs.
Its biggest asset is being able to loiter over the battlefield for 14 hours, flying at 50,000ft and unseen by the enemy.
However, with the final talks for the MoD's budget for this year already begun, the order is under threat.
A spokesman for the MoD said the proposal for 10 Reapers was "at this stage an expression of interest" and "not an intention to buy".
 
Back
Top