Military drones grounded in Central New York following crash in Lake Ontario

[Suburban Warrior]

Source: Syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Officials at the 174th Attack Wing suspended all Reaper drone flights in Central New York Tuesday after one of the unmanned aircraft crashed into Lake Ontario about 12 miles from the eastern shore during a routine training flight.

A Coast Guard helicopter and search vessel were unable to recover the $4 million drone, which crashed about 1 p.m. Tuesday, and were forced to call off the search late in the afternoon because of bad weather, said Col. Greg Semmel, commander of the 174th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard.

Semmel said he did not know what caused the accident. A safety investigation board appointed by Air Force commanders based in Langley, Va., will investigate the incident. Semmel estimated the investigation could take a month or so to complete.

No decision has been made yet on when Reaper training flights will resume, Semmel said. He emphasized that the unmanned combat aircraft, which was introduced by manufacturer General Atomics in 2007, has a good safety record. Critics say the drones have a high rate of accidents.

Read more: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/11/military_drone_flights_over_central_new_york_grounded_following_crash_in_lake_on.html

[Purveyor]

1. "Reaper" drone? Interesting choice of name for these drones, indeed. eom

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Maybe they should hire some PR person to rename them -

give them names that don't have such menacing overtones, like the "Fuzzy Bunny" drone.

[Purveyor]

4. Or perhaps they should just go whole-hog and name them something like "death star" to really

demonstrate and put on display their true mentality.

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Or let's skip to the last chapter

ad call them "T-1000".

[Jesus Malverde]

13. widowmaker

orphanFactory

HateGenerator

soulstealer

empireHammer

[olddad56]

15. How about Voyeur

[Oakenshield]

3. Makes you wonder what they'll call the next killing machine.

We went from Tomcats to Raptors and now we have Reapers. Seeing as we're getting more obvious with our intent, maybe we'll call the next one..."The Skullfucker."

[Posteritatis]

8. Eh, the USAF/USAAF's always had pretty unsubtle names for aircraft

Havoc, Invader, Vengeance, Marauder, Super Marauder(!), Trojan Horse, Black Widow...

(Tangentially related, but there were at least a dozen fighter designs in service named "Hawk." Some general must love the name..)

[olddad56]

16. I like Noble Death Monster, or simply The Grim Reaper.

[Ace Acme]

6. The A.N.G. said the drone cost $4 million to $5 million

Knowdrones.com claims the Reapers cost $28 million apiece.
http://www.knowdrones.com/FAQ.pdf

This article says they're $14 million apiece
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/11/mq-9_reaper_drones_among_most_accident-prone_in_air_force.html

France just paid $73 million apiece for 12 of them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/15/france-reaper-drone-us_n_3600549.html

Maybe I could buy a few from A.N.G. and sell them to France?

[Plucketeer]

7. There's a difference

between what they cost us taxpayers and what they're worth to humanity. 4Million is about 4Million too much in value.

Wonder how much the investigation and reclamation is going to cost US? You KNOW they're not gonna just let that thing sit on the lake bottom.

[EX500rider]

9. Depends how you break it down...

...some contracts have built in repair/maintenance and training clauses, some buy a plain-jane Reaper and add their own sensor package, other buy it fully kitted, the sensors cost about what the MQ-9 does. (the Reaper)

In 2011 the US Air Force has bought 24 MQ-9 Reaper UAVs, for about $6.2 million each. The price will more than double, as sensors, fire control and communications gear is added.

"The MQ-9 Reaper is a 4.7 ton, 11.6 meters (36 foot) long aircraft with a 21.3 meters (66 foot) wingspan that looks like the MQ-1. It has six hard points and can carry 682 kg (1,500 pounds) of weapons. These include Hellfire missiles (up to eight), two Sidewinder or two AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, two Maverick missiles, two 227 kg (500 pound) smart bombs (laser or GPS guided). Max speed is 400 kilometers an hour and max endurance is 15 hours. The Reaper is considered a combat aircraft, to replace F-16s or A-10s on many missions."
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/20111227.aspx

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. Am I now in Pakistan? Drones right on our fricken border?

.
.
.

And VERY close to our largest city and our capital . .

no coincidence methinks.

Fort Drum from whence this drone was launched is only 60 miles from Kingston Ontario, approx midway between Toronto and Ottawa -

no coincidence imo.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________-

"Up to 14 AGM-114 Hellfire air to ground missiles can be carried or four Hellfire missiles and two 500 lb (230 kg) GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs. The 500 lb (230 kg) GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) can also be carried. Testing is underway to support the operation of the AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missile."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper
________________________________________________________________________________________________-

ain't that comforting . . . .

CC

ps: keep them friggen things away from our schools and weddings, ok?

[Ace Acme]

14. Nothing to be concerned about. Simply routine surveillance and harrassment.

It's for your own protection. If you don't know that, you should--capiche?

[DeSwiss]

18. No. You're now in Americastan.

[center]♫ Where the deer and the antelope play. ♫
♪And where seldom is heard, a discouraging word ♫
♫ And the skies are not cloudy, like China. ♫ [/center]

- K&R

[groundloop]

11. I HATE the thought of sharing my airspace with drones.....

It scares the shit out of me to think somebody's flying the thing who's comfortably sitting at a desk hundreds of miles away. If he dozes off and flies the damned thing into me, oh well, there goes his promotion but other than that who cares (except for my widow)? I'm guessing a lot of those damned drones are or will be flown by the lowest bidder. When there's a real live pilot controlling another aircraft both of us have a very high vested interest in paying attention to who else is out there.

Furthermore, if that other plane has problems and has to make an emergency landing the pilot has a pretty good chance of picking a spot to sit down that's NOT a school yard or apartment building. If a drone has a catastrophic failure, well, who knows?

[blkmusclmachine]

12. ARMED ATTACK DRONES flying US neighborhoods. Reapers. From 174th ATTACK Wing. ARMED.

9/11! 9/11! 9/11!

Or is it Operation Northwoods???

Preview of our future in their Police State.

Courtesy Obama and the DC "Democrats."

[adirondacker]

17. .

Right in my own backyard!