General Atomics Predator B
An unmanned General Atomics Predator B landed at Whitman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin Wednesday in preparation for Aiventure 2009. The plane, operated by the Customs and Border Protection agency departed from Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota and later control was transferred to a cockpit equipped command center which was located on the ground at the Whitman airport. This was the first time an unmanned aircraft was allowed to land at a civilian airport.
The turboprop has a maximum gross weight of 10,500 lbs and can remain aloft for 30 hours and is flies at an airspeed over 220 knots. It was designed to provide remote sensing and targeting with which it can observe targets from as far away as 18 miles.
According to the CPB the Predator’s “primary mission of securing the border and preventing acts of terrorism by providing long-duration reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance, tracking and acquisition capability to augment crewed law enforcement aircraft and watercraft as well as ground interdiction agents.” It has flown more than 3000 hours since operation began in 2004.
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