That title’s going to get real old, real fast, but I think we can still get away with it. Defense Tech‘s Christian Lowe links to this public affairs story from the Air Force:
The MQ-9A Reaper demonstrated it’s unique precision strike capability as a hunter-killer attack platform by dropping its first precision-guided bomb Nov. 7. “The beauty of the MQ-9 Reaper is that we’re able to synchronize and integrate unmanned aerial attack platforms over the skies of Afghanistan, allowing us to persistently and consistently track the enemy and ensure that we place the appropriate ordnance on target when required, and maintain that persistent presence after weapons release,” said Lt. Gen. Gary North, U.S. Central Command Air Forces commander. The Reaper, the Air Force’s unmanned aerial attack vehicle, was operating over the Sangin region of Afghanistan on the hunt for enemy activity when the crew received a request for assistance from a joint terminal attack controller on the ground. Friendly forces were taking fire from enemy combatants. The JTAC provided targeting data to the pilot and sensor operator, who fly the aircraft remotely from Creech Air Force Base, Nev. The pilot released two GBU-12 500-pound laser-guided bombs, destroying the target and eliminating the enemy fighters.
I think Lowe draws an interesting conclusion from this:
For everyone who says China is surpassing a complacent and distracted US, all I have to do is point them to this kind of operation conducted in the most austere, uncontrolled laboratory in the world and think to myself that the US is pretty far out ahead when it comes to this kind of net-centric technology and capability.
More here from Bill Sweetman.
