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Unmanned US Reconnaissance Aircraft Lost over Southern Iraq
The US military said Monday that an unmanned US reconnaissance aircraft enforcing a ban on flights over southern Iraq may have been shot down by the Iraqi air defenses, the first US aircraft lost to Iraqi fire since the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
The 3.2-million-US-dollar unmanned US Air Force RQ-1B Predator aircraft, part of a 25-million-dollar reconnaissance and targeting system, "may have crashed or been shot down" at about 9 a.m. local time (0600 GMT), said the US Central Command, which coordinates US military operations in the area.
Earlier, Iraq said its air defenses shot down a US reconnaissance plane flying over southern Iraq Monday. It did not say whether a pilot was on board.
Baghdad recently has stepped up its efforts to shoot down US and British warplanes patrolling the "no fly" zones over northern and southern Iraq, according to the US Defense Department.
The "no-fly" zones were enforced after a US-led coalition drove Iraqi occupiers from Kuwait in 1991.
The Predator aircraft, a long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle system, was designed by the US Air Force to fly at medium altitude of around 7,620 meters to aim at potential surface targets or survey movement of troops or materials.
The plane is one of the four air vehicles that make up a system, equipped with electronic sensors, video cameras and satellite transmitters, activated from the ground by tele-data link from a communication suite manned by 55 people.
It can be used in areas designated "moderate risk" by the Pentagon, such as in zones where active enemy defenses or chemical contaminants may be located, or over the sea.
The Predator's flight is controlled by the air vehicle operator on the ground via the use of a so-called color nose camera. It has two other "spy" cameras: an infrared one and a synthetic aperture radar to look through cloud, smoke or haze.
The aircraft weighs 431 kilograms gross, measures 8.22 meters, to a height of 2.1 meters and a wingspan of 14.8 meters.
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