Air Force Shoots Down Rogue UAV
Posted on September 15, 2009 by aaronredbaron
In our world of model aviation, a loss of control usually results in a damaged model, and nothing more. When the Military has to shoot down a rogue UAV which has lost all communication and is embarking on its own with a full load of armament, the situation is markedly different. That situation played out in Afghanistan on Sunday 9/13/2009 when a MQ-9 Reaper stopped responding to pilot commands. The military swiftly came in with a manned aircraft and shot down the unresponsive unmanned aircraft.
Perhaps those paranoid among us might think this is the beginning of Skynet, the fictional military network that initiates a war of machine vs. man in the movie series “Terminator.” The reality is the “lost link” scenario probably has nothing to do with the computers we rely much of the time on to fly the MQ-9 Reaper/Predator B becoming self aware, and more than likely a glitch in the system. However, the military’s biggest fear is letting one of these Rogue aircraft get into enemy hands. These type of aircraft are all supposed to have a fail-safe function which brings the aircraft home if the communication link is lost for too long. Predator pilots routinely put their aircraft into a mode that allows them to loiter for expended periods of time. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that interuptions in the communication link from the other side of the planet are frequent, with the pilots often located in Nevada while the aircraft roam the globe. Unlike a simple model airplane which will fail-safe with any loss of control, because of the extended range required, UAV’s must be designed to bridge these communication gaps, complicating the implementation of a fail-safe device.
Although model aircraft don’t have most of the complications of an MQ-9 Reaper armed to the teeth and flying on the other side of the planet from its controller, we do benifit in one simple way. We never rely on a computer to bridge communication gaps. If there is a loss of control, the aircraft will failsafe. Some FPV (first person video) models even incorporate return to home functions as part of their failsafe, and attempt to return to the operator if the link is lost. Ironically, the simplicity of model aircraft and their reliance on close range for a solid radio signal makes them inherently safer than any military UAV, and besides, hobbyist don’t load up their flying machines with hellfire missiles!
click here to see a Popular Science article about the incident
Probably the most likely reason they shot it down, as you said (and personally I agree with this one), was to avoid having the thing getting into enemy hands.
Although another idea comes to mind.
If you had lost control of a drone, carrying high powered weapons in a hostile area. There is the possibility of running into a terrorist with the brains to take control of the thing and turn it against your own troops. And therefore, you’d want that thing out of the sky as soon as possible.
Does this idea hold any water? Not really, but back around the start of the year, one of our drones was shot down in Afghanistan by an SAM. They still haven’t found it. Reverse engineering?
Try this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82JDJNjcHZ8&feature=related
Over Afghanistan. It’s not THE one that was hit. But gives you an idea they can still do it.