Beagle
And when you have to fight an enemy who can field a few old MiG 17s or similar, you can kiss your expensive drones goodbye!
Take a look at this...
YouTube - Russian MIG 29 fighter shot down UAV above Georgia
...by the look at it you are right. But a second watch will reveal that the Hermes 450 pilot did b@gger all to defensively fly...no attempt to min range the A-A missile...no attempt to jink...no attempt to slow down or descend to low level...just flew straight and level and soaked it up - what a muppet! (must have been trained by the Royal Artillery!). He obvoiusly knew it was there as the sensor operator tracked the MiG29 and the missile to target. The fact that there is a pilot in the loop on Reaper is its best quality and I would hope that our Reaper pilots would never fly straight and level if they knew they were being attacked - there is every chance that a Reaper could fight its way to target (some of the USAF pictures show AIM-9 fitted as well, see below). I seem to remember a USAF Predator video on You Tube showing it trying use a Hellfire against a MiG in Iraq (sadly the Hellfire misguided).
So Beagle, old fruit, I do not support your argument that UAVs, UASs or RPAs are only good for permissive air environments...
LJ
