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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| The Al Qaeda Air Force |
| 2005-09-30 |
| September 30, 2005: Earlier this month, Pakistani troops captured an al Qaeda/Taliban base near the Afghan border. In addition to Pakistani and foreign terrorists captured, there was a great deal of material taken as well. This included guns, ammo, communications gear, laptops, and what was described as a âChinese UAVâ. Actually, it was a fairly large (bright yellow) remote control aircraft. A hobby item, actually. One of the Pakistani reporters later found an identical one in a big city hobby shop, selling for $55. The aircraft was made in China. The Pakistani army reported that the âChinese UAVâ was equipped with a video camera and transmitter, although the army did not release any details on that. It turns out that China (and Taiwan) are major manufacturers of radio controlled (RC) aircraft for hobbyists. One such model, bright yellow and weighing six pounds, was found in the catalog of a Chinese manufacturer. American troops, usually RC aircraft hobbyists, have modified such aircraft to carry a video camera and a transmitter, and use them in Iraq. Such field expedient UAVs donât have much range (about a kilometer), and can only stay in the air for about 30 minutes per sortie. But these things do the job, giving the troops a view of whatâs behind the next hill, or lurking in the alleyways they are about to pass. Thereâs no reason the al Qaeda gang up in the mountain could not have used their little (well, these things have a wing span of 5-6 feet) RC aircraft for more serious matters. As the old saying goes, never underestimate the enemy. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #10 kool vids |
| Posted by: Angearong Gleling4527 2005-09-30 23:33 |
| #9 My dad was into that stuff big-time. I've seen that death spiral too many times... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2005-09-30 21:56 |
| #8 And this is that model crashing: Take off and crash (4 MBytes) http://www.teambanana.co.uk/b52crash2.wmv |
| Posted by: ed 2005-09-30 21:05 |
| #7 Now, this is an RC model! |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-09-30 20:43 |
| #6 There's a guy in Denver that retired from running a hobby store that sold RC kits. He has a scale model Lockheed "Constellation" hanging in his living room (14-foot ceiling) that can take off, land, retract its landing gear, and fly for about 45 minutes before running out of gas. The darned thing is almost nine feet long! There's not a lot of difference between small UAVs and remote-controlled model planes except the purpose they're being built for. Wonder who's going to get credit for the first "kill" in Afghanistan? |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2005-09-30 19:56 |
| #5 3dc: Do you know if that shop in Chicago you mentioned will do works-for-hire? |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-09-30 17:22 |
| #4 Aha! The secret about Iranian UFOs is out! They must have come from Afghanistan... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-09-30 14:50 |
| #3 Thanks for the link, I didn't realize how inexpensive free flight electrics had gotten. Ima order thisn. $55 buys a lot of balsa... I'm tooo olde for that. :) |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-09-30 13:51 |
| #2 Chuper: Start at Tower Hobbies then modify. Or if you like older prebuilt running ones including jets and choppers there are a few hobby shops around that have them. A certain shop in a downtown Chicago suburb has a very nice selection of these in its basement. (you have to open a door that looks like a shelf to find them in the store. Oh and there are lots of cameras watching while you are down there.) |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-09-30 10:25 |
| #1 $55? I want one! |
| Posted by: Chuper Whegum3442 2005-09-30 09:46 |