Sub-Hunting Drone Completes Successful Test Off California Coast zerohedge.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from zerohedge.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Origins
GA’s machines made their combat debut for the conflict in Afghanistan where they conducted both surveillance-reconnaissance missions as well as direct action operations against the Taliban. American drone strikes outside of Afghanistan drew international notoriety when the CIA targeted Taliban militants in Pakistan’s mountainous border region with Afghanistan. Public backlash aside, the drones proved their worth and their numbers have steadily grown.
Since the Reaper and Predator’s War on Terror heyday, General Atomics expanded their drone’s capabilities, widening the scope of missions GA’s aircraft can fulfill. Advancements include substituting jet engines for the platform’s original pusher turboprop, allowing for vastly superior range, speed, and payload capacity.
Off the California coast, the US Navy tests hunting subs with an aerial drone January 18 General Atomics MQ-9B is in development for maritime use. A modified MQ-9A was recently used in an anti-submarine warfare demonstration. (A rendering of the MQ-9B from General Atomics) WASHINGTON – The U.S. Navy and General Atomics in November used sonobuoys dropped from an MQ-9A Block V Reaper to track a simulated submarine target on a U.S. Navy Pacific test range, in what the contractor says is the first time an aerial drone has deployed a self-contained anti-submarine warfare system. The Reaper deployed a mix of 10 sonobuoys – deployed to measure water conditions and monitor for targets – then received and transmitted the data in real time to a monitoring station at Laguna Flight Operations Facility located at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.