China might be testing armed drones
Happy Friday. Here’s your pic of the week. This photo that has appeared on Chinese web forums apparently shows China’s MQ-9 Reaper UAV clone, the Pterodactyl making its first public appearance at the Zuhai Air Show in China. What’s so special about this picture (other than it’s the debut photo for a new Chinese UAV)? ...
Happy Friday. Here's your pic of the week. This photo that has appeared on Chinese web forums apparently shows China's MQ-9 Reaper UAV clone, the Pterodactyl making its first public appearance at the Zuhai Air Show in China. What's so special about this picture (other than it's the debut photo for a new Chinese UAV)? Check out those 15 black missiles painted on the side of the fuselage.
Happy Friday. Here’s your pic of the week. This photo that has appeared on Chinese web forums apparently shows China’s MQ-9 Reaper UAV clone, the Pterodactyl making its first public appearance at the Zuhai Air Show in China. What’s so special about this picture (other than it’s the debut photo for a new Chinese UAV)? Check out those 15 black missiles painted on the side of the fuselage.
The missiles (painted behind those 20 red stars that might denote missions flown) look like kill markings often painted on the side of an aircraft to celebrate successful bombing missions or air-to-air victories. Given the fact that China is not, to the best of our knowledge, involved in any CIA-style drone bombing campaigns, these markings probably indicate successful exercises — not actual bomb runs.
John Reed is a national security reporter for Foreign Policy. He comes to FP after editing Military.com’s publication Defense Tech and working as the associate editor of DoDBuzz. Between 2007 and 2010, he covered major trends in military aviation and the defense industry around the world for Defense News and Inside the Air Force. Before moving to Washington in August 2007, Reed worked in corporate sales and business development for a Swedish IT firm, The Meltwater Group in Mountain View CA, and Philadelphia, PA. Prior to that, he worked as a reporter at the Tracy Press and the Scotts Valley Press-Banner newspapers in California. His first story as a professional reporter involved chasing escaped emus around California’s central valley with Mexican cowboys armed with lassos and local police armed with shotguns. Luckily for the giant birds, the cowboys caught them first and the emus were ok. A New England native, Reed graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a dual degree in international affairs and history.
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