AWOL Reaper

[Eugen Leitl]

http://gizmodo.com/5359382/runaway-drone-shot-out-of-sky

Runaway Drone Shot Out of Sky

By Rosa Golijan, 10:20 PM on Mon Sep 14 2009, 43,022 views 

An MQ-9 Reaper drone's fail-safe programming failed and it rushed through
Afghanistan's airspace on Sunday. The US Air Force simply responded by
sending a manned plane to shoot it down. Turns out this isn't all that
uncommon.

Apparently the pilots of an unmanned, but armed, MQ-9 Reaper drone lost
control of the UAV a few days ago. The resulting manned mission to take it
down was mounted almost immediately and ended successfully before the drone
reached the edges of Afghanistan's airspace.

I wonder what would've happened if the Reaper hadn't been shot down. It is
typically used for "hunter-killer" missions and targets enemies on the
ground. Would it continue a mission like that without operator input?

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles like the Reaper are supposed to be programmed to
return to their home bases in case they lose contact with their pilots.
There's no explanation as to why the fail-safe didn't kick in for this
particular Reaper. Nor is this incident the first time that a UAV has been
shot down by intentional friendly fire. What's going on and when can I start
to panic? [Aviation Weekly via Popular Science]

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a32530e23-3fa1-4379-8f67-3f785feb01fd&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

USAF Splashes One Reaper

Posted by Robert Wall at 9/14/2009 9:57 AM CDT

Is it a blue-on-blue incident if it is deliberate?

Regardless, a U.S. Air Force fighter downed a MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft
over Afghanistan on Sunday.

Operators lost control over the unmanned aircraft during its operation. With
the UAV headed in a direction where it was about to depart Afghanistan's air
space, a U.S. Air Force aircraft brought down the Reaper in what the Air
Force says was a remote part of Afghanistan. The type of aircraft or method
used to take out the Reaper was not specified.

The Air Force says merely that bthe Reaper impacted the side of a mountain
and there were no reports of civilian injuries or damage to civilian property
at the site.b

The incident is now under investigation. Investigators also will be busy
looking into the crash of an MQ-1 Predator at Creech AFB, Nev. That took
place on Sept. 11. That General Atomics UAV was being used in a training
mission. 

http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/when-drones-go-wild-air-force-shoots-them-down#

Air Force Shoots Down Runaway Drone Over Afghanistan

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 09.14.2009 at 3:31 pm 9 Comments

Reaper Gone Rogue: Human pilots: still good for shooting down wayward
unmanned aerial systems U.S. Air Force

A drone pilot's nightmare came true when operators lost control of an armed
MQ-9 Reaper flying a combat mission over Afghanistan on Sunday. That led a
manned U.S. aircraft to shoot down the unresponsive drone before it flew
beyond the edge of Afghanistan airspace.

The U.S. Air Force stated that a manned aircraft took "proactive measures" to
shoot down the Reaper, which ended up crashing into the side of a mountain.
Reaper drones have typically engaged in hunter-killer missions over Iraq,
Afghanistan and Pakistan by targeting enemies on the ground with Hellfire
missiles.

Tags Military, Aviation & Space, Jeremy Hsu, air force, drone, mq-9 reaper,
predator, reaper, unmanned aerial vehicles

More than one drone has fallen out of the sky over the past few days.
Aviation Weekly noted that a smaller MQ-1 Predator crashed on September 11 at
Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, and another Predator just crashed today in
Iraq for reasons other than hostile fire.

But the Reaper incident in particular raises questions about the backup
control systems over unmanned aerial systems, and what steps are available to
prevent drones from falling into enemy hands when they go rogue.

Both the Reaper and Predator have a "zero out" function that permits
operators to wipe their data remotely. Still, that might not work if the link
between operator and drone goes dead.

Such "lost link" incidents actually represent common troubles for the two
drone types. Predator pilots constantly update a set pattern for their
drones, so that the plane will loiter in that pattern if it loses
communication with its operator (which happens frequently). The drones are
even programmed to automatically head toward home to reestablish contact if
the link remains dead for too long.

If communications cannot be restored and the failsafe measures fail (as they
appear to have here), current drones lack remote-kill or self-destruct
mechanisms. Prior crashes or incidents have required ground forces to secure
the area, or manned aircraft to destroy the damaged asset.

These issues have special relevance for today's U.S. Air Force, which has
scrambled to reinvent itself and train thousands of pilots to keep up with
the demand for unmanned missions. We're still far from fearing self-aware
drones or machines running amok, but a "dumb" drone without adequate human
control represents no less a worry for commanders.

[via Aviation Weekly; Additional Reporting by Eric Hagerman]