Jet-powered and Stealthy Predator UAV Heads for Afghanistan | Aviation International News

Jet-powered and Stealthy Predator UAV Heads for Afghanistan

The U.S. is planning to use a single example of the Predator-C jet-powered UAV in Operation Enduring Freedom (Photo: General Atomics)

By Chris Pocock • Defense Correspondent

December 16, 2011

The stealthy, jet-powered Predator-C UAV may be heading for Afghanistan, where it will be operated by “a classified customer,” presumably the CIA. The U.S. Air Force published a procurement notice stating its intention to award a sole-source contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for a single aircraft to serve as “a test platform” in a “multi-agency role” as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. The notice was cancelled five days later, perhaps because of unwanted publicity following the recent loss of a stealthy RQ-170 UAV over Iran. The wording of the notice made clear that the plan to acquire a Predator-C was initiated some months before Iran downed the Lockheed Martin drone.

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