Reaper in U.S. arsenal

The Air Force version of the grim reaper has arrived in Afghanistan just in time for Halloween.

If all goes as planned, Air Force officials said, the newest U.S. operational, unmanned, armed spy plane -- the MQ-9 Reaper -- will soon be targeting enemy forces, controlled more than 7,000 miles away via satellite link by pilots and sensor operators at Creech Air Force Base. The base is at Indian Springs, 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"We're very excited to be in the fight," Lt. Col. Jonathan Greene, commander of the Reaper's 42nd Attack Squadron, said in a telephone interview late Monday.

"It's all come to the pinnacle of this, and I can tell you the morale is sky high," he said.

An Air Force announcement late Thursday out of Washington, D.C., stated that Reaper operators had not yet "been called up to drop their weapons on enemy positions."

On Monday, Greene said the Reaper "is ready to strike. It's fully combat capable right now."

Green noted that the Reaper can loiter over potential targets with its near-real time video and infrared cameras for up to 15 hours while carrying 3,000 pounds of munitions including laser-guided bombs. Like its little brother, the MQ-1 Predator, the Reaper can also launch Hellfire missiles.

Asked how the Reaper will help in the hunt for terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, Greene said, "I think it can provide any capability the commanders see fit. Like the Predator, it can stay aloft for hours.

"Unlike the Predator, it doesn't need to call in another strike platform if we do have a high-level target."

Nine Reapers have been delivered to the Air Force inventory since the 42nd Attack Squadron was activated at Creech on Nov. 9. The squadron has grown to about 100 airmen, including pilots, sensor operators, intelligence personnel and support crews.

The Air Force's Web site, www.af.mil, has posted seven photographs and a video clip of Reaper operations in Afghanistan this month. Between its inaugural flight from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan on Sept. 25 through Thursday, the Reaper had flown a dozen missions, averaging one sortie per day.

Both the Reaper and the Predator take off and land at overseas sites. After they become airborne, control of the planes can be handed off to pilots and sensor operators in Nevada and other U.S. locations.

The announcement quotes Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, and Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of U.S. Central Command Air Forces. North described the Reaper as "an incredible weapon in our quiver."

Costing about $10 million, the Reaper has almost nine times the range and can fly twice as high as the Predator.

Predators have been in high demand by battlefield commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq in assisting soldiers, Marines and special forces troops hunt down and kill militants.

Moseley said the Reaper "is a significant evolution in capability for the Air Force. We've taken these aircraft from performing mainly as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms to carrying out true hunter-killer missions."