The new "predator"

U.S. Air Force announced that it had decided to purchase the first unmanned drone of a new generation of Predator C Avenger The machine is also called (avenger - English) is to be early next year sent to Afghanistan. In the fight with the rebels drones to pass the first tests of combat, which will be used to prepare the production.

USAF announced its purchase of stealth, by publishing the relevant document at the office that deals with the provision of transparency in government programs. Material on the purchase of Predator C was, however, heavily censored, and many details of the contract with the company General Atomics is not known.

It is known that it was signed in early December. It is not known, however, unless the new machine costs the American taxpayer. Signing a contract is a great success for the company General Atomics, which began work on the Avenger at his own expense, hoping to interest the army.

Robots take over the sky

Predator C is the next step in the evolution of U.S. unmanned machines. So far, almost the entire fleet of drones Pentagon were fairly simple machines powered by piston engines, as the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper, which were designed primarily for reconnaissance missions for. The portability of arms was added to their sense of need of the moment, the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new generation of the Predator was designed from the outset as a carrier of weapons. In the bomb bay can carry cargo weighing about one ton. Step forward is the use of a jet engine, which gives the machine a much higher speed. When designing Avenger also kept the principles of technology "stealth", making it trudnowykrywalny to radar.

Predator C is also compared with existing dronami MQ-1 and MQ-9 very large. Corresponds roughly to the dimensions of F-15 fighter.