Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Overlooked UAV

The Raven UAV. It doesn't have the ability to shoot missiles, like the Predator, but it is probably the more valuable UAV in Iraq, at least to the grunts.

4 comments:

PhysioProf said...

That is very cool! What kind of engine does it have?

PhysioProf said...

Never mid. I obviously didn't read closely enough; I see it has a battery-powered electric engine.

Milo said...

My last week in Iraq, I watched one of these things go down. It had apparently lost a wing, inexplicably, midflight. It fell spinning to earth like a three-million-dollar stone, before disappearing from view behind a HESCO basket. It struck soundlessly, with a Wyle E. Coyote puff of dust, followed thirty seconds later by a plume of black smoke.

Somewhere on Anaconda, I can imagine a maintenance crew standing around, looking at each other. I can imagine one finding a bolt they had neglected to replace lying on the concrete. Dart, and a hard throw of the item into a patch of grass behind the hangar. "We never speak of this!"

Coolest thing I'd seen all week.

Comrade Misfit said...

SPC Freeman,

I cannot begin to tell you number of times I saw "missing" parts disappear over the side of a ship.