Air Force spending $1B on surveillance planes

[unhappycamper]

Air Force spending $1B on surveillance planes
By DONNA BORAK - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jan 26, 2009 18:39:56 EST

WASHINGTON — The Air Force soon will fly commercial planes outfitted with surveillance technologies that can help troops in Iraq or Afghanistan detect mines, explosives and other enemy efforts, a senior service official said Friday.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Blair Hansen detailed previously classified plans to reconfigure used and new Hawker Beechcraft Corp. aircraft under a nearly $1 billion contract to support surveillance and reconnaissance operations in both U.S.-led wars and beyond. The first two King Air 350 planes are slated to begin flights by April.

“We always need to know more because of the nature of insurgency ... (and have) more information faster,” Hansen, the service’s director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, told reporters at a Pentagon news briefing.

The Air Force said it will buy a total of 37 of the modified MC-12 aircraft, which will carry a crew of four, plus two operators, under the so-called “Project Liberty” program. United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney is building the engines for the nearly 47-foot long aircraft.

The planes can carry up to 539 gallons of fuel and reach a maximum speed of roughly 370 miles per hour.


Rest of article at: http://airforcetimes.com/news/2009/01/airforce_planes_022609/%2e