MQ1 Predator

Crew: none on-board, Length: 8.22 m, Wingspan: 14.8 m (MQ-1B Block 10/15: 16.84 m), Height: 2.1 m, Wing area: 11.5 m², Empty weight: 512 kg, Loaded weight: 1,020 kg, Max takeoff weight: 1,020 kg, Powerplant: 1 × Rotax 914F turbocharged four-cylinder engine, 115 hp (86 kW), Maximum speed: 217 km/h, Cruise speed: 130–165 km/h, Stall speed: 100 km/h, Range: 1,100 km, Endurance: 24 hours, Service ceiling: 7,620 m, 2 hardpoints: 2 × AGM-114 Hellfire (MQ-1B) or 4 × AIM-92 Stinger (MQ-1B) or 6 × Griffin air-to-surface missiles.

MQ9 Reaper:

Crew: None onboard, Length: 11 m, Wingspan: 20 m, Height: 3.6 m, Power Plant: Honeywell TPE331-10 turboprop engine, 900 shp (671 kW), with Digital Electronic Engine Control (DEEC), Maximum speed: 482 km/h, Cruise speed: 276–313 km/h, Range: 5,926 km, Endurance: 14–28 hours, Service ceiling: 15 km, 7 Hardpoints: Up to 680 kg on the two inboard weapons stations, Up to 340 kg on the two middle stations, Up to ¡68 kg on the outboard stations (Up to 14 AGM-114 Hellfire air to ground missiles can be carried or four Hellfire missiles and two 230 kg GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs, 230 kg GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) can also be carried)

Creech Air Force Base hosts some AFSOC units operating Predator and Reaper drones. Well, it looks like they have had a virus infection going on there for a couple of weeks…

Noah Shachtman from WIRED reports at Danger Room that:

A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America’s Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots’ every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones.”

And he cites a source familiar with the network infection at Creech:

We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back. We think it’s benign. But we just don’t know.”

Benign…

Technorati: drones, Predator, reaper, virus

Etiquetas: drones, Predator, reaper, virus