| The General Atomics "Predator MQ-1" UAS | - Predator |
The MQ-1 Predator is a system, not just an aircraft. A fully operational system consists of four aircraft (with sensors), a ground control station, a Predator Primary Satellite Link, and approximately 55 personnel for deployed 24-hour operations. The basic crew for the Predator is one pilot and two sensor operators. They fly the aircraft from inside the ground control station via a line-of-sight data link or a satellite data link for beyond line-of-sight flight. The aircraft is equipped with a color nose camera (generally used by the pilot for flight control), a day variable-aperture TV camera, a variable-aperture infrared camera (for low light/night), and a synthetic aperture radar for looking through smoke, clouds or haze. The cameras produce full motion video while the SAR produces still frame radar images. The " M" is the Department of Defense designation for multi-role and " Q" means unmanned aircraft system. The " 1" refers to the aircraft being the first of a series of purpose-built remotely piloted aircraft systems.- from http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=122
from http://science.howstuffworks.com/predator.htm
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RQ-1_Predator
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