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Rylan Pannell

Mrs.Holan

English 3

03 May 2017

Research Project

There are a total of 13,690 drones currently in use by the U.S military. All of them are

used offensively or defensively to help with surveillance and strategizing. Many of which are

able to fly for more than 7 hours.

One of the many drones used by the U.S and European armed forces is called the

Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk. The largest un-armed drone used by the U.S and is

powered by an Allison Rolls-Royce AE3007H Turbofan and has a top speed of 354 MPH and

can last 34 hours and can reach 14,000 miles away from the command center . It also has a HD

camera with infrared sights that can scan 40,000 square miles a day. Only 30 of them are in use

and made for the U.S military and each one of them cost $222.7M and the cost of having the

program is around $10 billion. These drones are only used for surveillance and come in different

variants like the Euro Hawk and the Navys version the MQ-4C Triton.

Another drone used by the U.S military is called the Reaper or the Hunter Killer. This

drone was solely made to seek out and strike targets. This is the most weaponized drone issued

by any military. This can fly 50,000 feet in the air while carrying 750 lb and flying for 30 hours.

There are 163 in use as of 2014 and one of the these cost $16.9 million U.S dollars. It has a top

out speed at 300 MPH and has 950 HP (Shaw 2014). This drone primarily uses Hellfire missiles

which in itself cost $110,000 for each one manufactured. It also uses a 500 lb. laser guided

bomb. This drone is also used domestically for finding lost survivors in disasters even though its
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not allowedaloud because it doesnt comply with the see-and-avoid policy, because of how hard

it is to see. Homeland security actually used one of these but crashed it in Arizona in 2006. This

drone also has been used to help with crime it has had a part in 2,309 arrests and seized four

vehicles and 8,267 pound of marijuana.

The third drone to is the RQ-11B Raven a hand held launched drone. Its main and only

purpose is reconnaissance and surveillance; it has a wingspan of 4.5 feet and weighs 4.2lb. It can

get up to 60 MPH and can get 7 miles away from the command point. It only last an hour and a

half with reaching 500 feet of the ground, but cost $173,000. It is also able to fit every piece of

its equipment in a backpack. It is also used a lot with joint task force operations by giving

situational awareness and target information. The Raven also has a high resolution camera day or

night camera and a thermal imager, great for instant information.

The final drone that is about to get replaced by the reaper drone is called the MQ-1

Predator. The first one was made in 1995 and is stilled used today and isnt only used by the U.S

military, it is also used by the Italian air force, the Turkish air force, and the Royal Moroccan air

force. One of these units cost $4.03 million. It is equipped with a forward-looking infrared that

can be seen realtime by a frontline soldier, operational commander, or worldwide. The Predator

is also armed with Hellfire missiles and has 500,000 flight time hours with over 50,000 flights. It

has also been used for many tests like the hellfire-C laser-guided missile and has had mini drones

like the Raven to detach from it in flight to help with ground troops. The predator has a length of

27 feet and a wingspan of 49 feet, but its newer version the predator b has length of 36 feet and

a wingspan of 66 feet and weighs 10,000 pounds.

In conclusion, a lot of time and money has been put into drones and is obviously a really

reliable way to eliminate threats and doing surveillance and getting intel without having boots on
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the ground. I think its a good idea to use drones because its safer than putting soldiers in a

country they dont know how to survive in, and wasting lives for something a drone can do and

be even more effective. In total it cost around $14 billion for the U.S drone program, but in the

end is worth it.

Works Cited
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RQ-4 Global Hawk > U.S. Air Force > Fact Sheet Display. U.S. Air Force, U.S. Air Force,

2014, http://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104516/rq-4-global-

hawk/. Accessed 5 May 2017.

The Debate Over Drone Use in U.S. Military and Intelligence Operations | CTU.

http://www.coloradotech.edu/resources/blogs/october-2015/the-debate-over-drone-use-in

-us-military-intelligence-operations. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017

The Drone Wars: 9/11-Inspired Combat Leans Heavily on Robot Aircraft - Scientific American.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/post-911-military-tech-drones/. Accessed 12

Apr. 2017.

Ian G. R. Shaw, (2014), The Rise of the Predator Empire: Tracing the History of U.S.

Drones, Understanding Empire,

https://understandingempire.wordpress.com/2-0-a-brief-history-of-u-s-drones/

RQ-11B Raven | Military.com. http://www.military.com/equipment/rq-11b-raven. Accessed 5

May 2017.