Second unmanned Predator aircraft in three days crashes in Iraq ($3.8M ea)

[UpInArms]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2005/mar/31/033110208.html

LAS VEGAS (AP) - For the second time in three days, an unmanned Predator spy plane has crashed in Iraq, officials said.

A military statement from Baghdad said the remotely piloted MQ-1 Predator crashed at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Rawah, northwest of Ramadi, about 60 miles east of the Syrian border.

On Sunday, an MQ-1 Predator crashed near Balad, about 40 miles north of Baghdad.

The cause of the crashes was not immediately determined. The military said boards of officers will investigate.

<snip>

MQ-1s are equipped with video and infrared cameras and armed with laser-guided Hellfire missiles. They cost up to $3.8 million each.

...more...

[ewagner]

1. Could have been worse

It could have been a manned American recon aircraft and the pilot(s) could have been killed captured and held hostage.....

now....

let's deal with this:

What the hell were they doing there in the first place ?!?

[Biology]

2. Lets buy stock in that company

[leftchick]

3. Sure they "crashed"

Soon we will see photos on Yahoo showing them being shot down.

:eyes:

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Why are we using spy planes in Iraq?

Haven't we conquered the place? This whole thing is beyond belief.

[peacebird]

5. oopsie? kinda expensive toys to send into death spirals....

reminds me of the story of the russian operator - had a bunch of weather balloons to control and two possible commands to send: Download data and Self Destruct.

Download data is the obvious right choice with self destruct being choice of option if they drifted in to aircraft flight paths.

unfortunatley he wanted to downlad data from them and did a "send to all" command with the wrong option chosen which caused all to not download data but go "boom" instead....

oopsie!

:evilgrin:

maybe if our military keeps hitting the "wrong button" and crashing their very pricey UAV's we won't have the money to continue the oppression of the Iraqi people?

[0007]

23. And the world hates us for our wrongness

The wrong war, at the wrong time, with the wrong people, with the wrong equipment, for all the wrong reasons with the wrong administration.....back to the Terri Schiavo story.

I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe—I believe what I believe is right. George W. Bush: 43rd President of the United States

[RebelOne]

6. My cousin is the chief engineer for the Pedator program.

Maybe I'll ask him why the things keep crashing.

[happyslug]

12. Ask him what would be the effect of a:

150 grain full metal jacket lead core projectile on its hydraulics, computer or engine. It a critical area one such projectile is enough to cause the aircraft to crash, many such projectiles will increase the changes of hitting a critical component and causing a crash.

I wonder what could have caused three crashes in two days? Could it be such full metal jacket lead core projectiles? If so, why would ANYONE in Iraq direct such projectiles to the reconnaissance plane? Maybe someone does not like their pictures being taken?

[hector459]

7. Maybe insurgents have our number on these drones. Enough have

crashed so that the remains in the hands of the "terrorists" might yiled enough information on how to make them crash.

[cliss]

8. Hmmmm......60 miles east of the Syrian border.

I wonder if there's any connection. And yes, $3.8 million X 2 = a heavy loss. A heavy loss considering we've bankrupted ourselves in this war & Afghanistan.

Some questions:

1) How high were these spy planes flying? Could they be taken down by a device on the ground, like a heat-seeking sensor, or just a plain old Kalashnikov rifle.

2) Are these the first spy planes which have come down? Or are there others?

3) How much STUFF have we lost in Iraq, anyway? It seems to me like we're constantly losing stuff. Several Abrams (supposedly indestructible) tanks are shot to shit. A Bradley fighting vehicle was bombed recently. MANY helicopters have crashed due to one reason (?) or another. I read recently that tanks are dropping like flies because the sand is wearing out the treads much faster than they expected.

Just a Circus of Fools.

[mediaman007]

24. Doesn't matter how much we lost...

They won't bring anything home. Iraq will be a landfill for the Department of Defense. Its a place to dump old stuff and clean out the inventory. We need to do that every 15-20 years.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. Just coincidence?

[Gyre]

10. Aircraft "crashes" in Iraq

are a euphenism for getting shot down by enemy fire.

[MasonJar]

11. I remember the Pugs ripping into Clinton for firing one rocket

at bin Lauden.

[Moderator]

13. kick to combine

[NVMojo]

14. Second unmanned Predator aircraft in three days crashes in Iraq

This was no cheap incident ...

LAS VEGAS (AP) - For the second time in three days, an unmanned Predator spy plane has crashed in Iraq, officials said.

A military statement from Baghdad said the remotely piloted MQ-1 Predator crashed at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Rawah, northwest of Ramadi, about 60 miles east of the Syrian border.

On Sunday, an MQ-1 Predator crashed near Balad, about 40 miles north of Baghdad.

The cause of the crashes was not immediately determined. The military said boards of officers will investigate.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2005/mar/31/033110208.html

[babylonsister]

15. Boys and their

toys? :eyes: But at the expense of who? Or should I say 'how many'?

[AlCzervik]

16. We can't keep our drones in the air and they actually expected us to

believe Saddam hussain could not only fly his drones to the eastern seaboard but actually distribute biological agents.

[NVMojo]

17. good point!

[daleo]

18. Well his were simpler in design, being propelled by rubber bands.

That might make a difference. It was his armadas of paper airplanes that I saw as the real threat, delivering ricin and anthrax to everybody's door, blown across the ocean on the jet stream.

[AlCzervik]

19. LOL!

[saigon68]

20. You are correct

Those paper airplanes were Real and Dangerous weapons of Mass Destruction. Capable of delivering "Bunker Buster Bombs"

Mrs Saddam folded a lot of them in the basement of the Palace, as she had more dexterity in her fingers.

LOL

[madrchsod]

21. guess what------------------

the new versions can drop a 500lb bomb...

[CottonBear]

22. the "newly created Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Center for Excellence"...NOT.

<snip>
Both planes were assigned to the 15th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, near Las Vegas.

MQ-1s are equipped with video and infrared cameras and armed with laser-guided Hellfire missiles. They cost up to $3.8 million each.

A Nellis auxiliary airfield at Indian Springs, 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is home to the nation's three Predator squadrons and the newly created Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Center for Excellence.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2005/mar/31/033110208.html