Welcome to a brand new Mega Projects video! Before we get into this one, I will say that Mega Projects has a sister channel called Side Projects where we deal with some projects that weren't quite big enough to be called Mega. Please check that channel out, it's linked below.
There are videos on that channel every day, there are not videos on this channel. Let's get into it! It set the scene for what was to become the future of aviation, a circling specter that could destroy any target with devastating accuracy while its pilot sits 500 miles away.
This marvel of modern machinery has struck terror into the hearts of its enemies, and has truly earned its name the MQ-1 Predator drone. The aircraft blazed a new path, spurred on by the cyber age. When it first entered the aviation scene in 1996, it stood out for its unconventional shape that has since distinguished itself. With a technology so industry-defining, in order to tell its story, you must go back to the beginning, to 1937. At the Model Aircraft Nationals in Detroit, two men, Ross Hull and Clinton DeSoto, were about to make history.
These two men were avid aircraft modelers, and both were prominent members of the American Radio Relay League, because being in your mid-30s and building model planes is apparently not cool enough. Hull was also known to be a particularly gifted radio designer, and is notable for making discoveries in the field of radio transmission. With these credentials, the stage was set for the duo to become the first to build and successfully operate an RC glider in a public demonstration, and so begin the age of unmanned flight.
It's worth mentioning that unmanned aircraft have been a part of the US military's arsenal for a while. But these early iterations rarely made it past the experimental stage and were little more than an engine with wings, cameras and a radio wave receiver attached. Fast forward to the 1960s and the American government was in the midst of the Cold War.
The US was finding a great deal of value in spy technology and at the time, the only operational spy plane at their disposal was the U-2. During an operation over Soviet airspace, one of these planes was shot down, leading to the capture and interrogation of its pilot, Gary Powers, a CIA employee. This international incident was embarrassing for the United States. As a response to this, the American Department of Defense began Operation Red Wagon as an initiative to develop UAV technology. This was brought on mostly as an attempt to reduce the risk of losing pilots.
However, the military was not convinced of the value of UAV technology and thought of them as essentially expensive toys. This attitude is reflected by the meager $200,000 contract, which is about $1.25 million today. This amount was awarded to Ryan Aeronautical for the project, and when we say meager, we really do mean it, especially when you consider that the military budget that year was $61.4 billion, or, inflation adust it, that's about $527 billion today.
So yes, it was very small, they were not very keen. Despite this, the DoD received their first effective UAV in 1972 in the Ryan Model 147, otherwise known as the DoD. as the Lightning Bug.
To us now, the design of this drone was primitive at best, but back then it was very well engineered and set the standard in terms of recoverability and endurance. Before this, drones were mostly used as bomb delivery systems or as decoys to confuse radar systems. Now, though, they were a viable alternative to manned reconnaissance missions. However, following the end of the Vietnam War, the need for an unmanned reconnaissance drone dropped severely, combining that with the high cost of Upkeep that these drones required caused the US to halt all orders, and funding was cut shortly thereafter. And that was that.
For a while, advancements in the world of UAVs stayed pretty quiet until 1982, when a young genius stepped onto the scene. Abraham Karam was born on the 23rd of June, 1937 to Jewish parents in Baghdad. The youngest of four children, he was a precocious child who took a serious interest in the way things worked. When Abe was 14 years old, his family moved to Israel and it was around this time that he began to build model planes. At school, he proved himself to be a highly proficient student and, upon graduation, he received a place at the highly prestigious Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa.
He graduated three years later with a degree in aeronautical engineering. After university, he worked for the Israeli Air Force as a pilot before moving to work for Israel Aircraft Industries. It was here that Karim really began to distinguish himself, and he rose rapidly through the corporate structure, finding himself in line to become a vice president of the company after only 4 years.
However, Karim took issue with the corruption and bureaucracy at the top, and he resigned from his position. From there, he decided to move to America and establish his own business, developing drones based on his own designs. In 1980, he established a company called Leading Systems, working out of his garage and having In the mid-1900s, a group of nerds from the Asiatic Islands, the Asiatic Islands, and the Asiatic Islands, were in the middle of a war. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands, and they were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands.
They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands, and they were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands.
They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands.
They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands.
They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands.
They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands.
They were in the middle of a war against the Asiatic Islands. of carrying what was essentially a TV camera in its nose, all while staying airborne for up to 56 hours straight. Krem had a great deal of initial success with the Albatross, with both the Navy and the Army registering their interest in funding further development. This led to the release of the Amber, a development on the Albatross which more suited the Navy's requirements. It was at this point that it picked up its unusual tail configuration.
But this didn't seem to bother the Navy, as they made an initial order of seven units. This looked to be promising, however, But Karam's luck began to turn. After only a few shipments, the Navy cancelled its larger order of 200 units, mainly due to budget cuts and, for the same reason, Congress cut funding to Karam's company.
In a last-ditch attempt to save the company, Karam released a larger, more advanced version of the Amber called the Nat. However, the writing was already on the wall for Karam's company, and following a $5 million loan becoming due for repayment in late 1989, it filed for bankruptcy. And that could have been the end of the line for this drone.
were it not for two enterprising billionaires called Neil and Lyndon Blue, both brothers and both owners of a company called General Atomics. Seeing the promise of the technologies that Karam had developed, they purchased Leading Systems and all of its assets out of bankruptcy in 1990. They went on to employ Karem and eight other members of his team, who then resumed development of the Nat. In 1993, one James Woolsey, the then-director of the CIA, became frustrated with the quality of the surveillance images coming from satellites that were passing over Bosnia.
By this point, Karam was well known in the industry, and more crucially, he was known to James Woolsey, who went to Karam and requested a vehicle that could produce what he referred to as a persistent stare. And so it was that in 1994, a contract was issued to General Atomics for an unmanned craft that was capable of loitering between 35 and 45,000 feet for upwards of 24 hours while fully loaded with surveillance equipment. Just one year later, General Atomics recorded the first flight of the RQ-1 Predator. The Predator program had cost a total of $2.38 billion by 2011, with each unit costing $4 million and with a total of 360 being built.
The drone has a wingspan of 55 feet with a length of 27 feet, a maximum take-off of 2,250 pounds. roughly 1 metric ton, and a dry weight of 1,130 lbs, or 512 kg. To give you an idea of how much that is, two Predator drones stacked on top of each other would weigh less than an average economy car. This is thanks to its construction from graphite epoxy. It was capable of carrying 204 kilograms of cargo and a maximum cruising altitude of 45,000 feet and a top speed of 135 mph.
It was powered by a tiny 914 Rotax four-cylinder turboprop engine capable of producing just 115 hp. For reference, the Rolls-Royce Trent engines on the Airbus A380 produce 12,600 hp. When it is set up in its reconnaissance configuration, it carries a suite of sensors and cameras, including a full-color nose camera used primarily by the pilot to navigate the craft.
a variable aperture camera capable of seeing details as small as 6 inches from 20,000 feet away, a night vision camera, and a synthetic aperture radar. When it's in its standard assault configuration, it carries two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missiles. Both setups have a laser designation aperture on the nose, which provides the devastating accuracy that this craft has become so notorious for. One of the most distinguishing parts of the drone is its inverted Y tail configuration, which was designed in order to protect the propeller blades from hitting the ground in the event of a crash.
The Predator was given the designation RQ-1 when it first qualified in 1994, the R being the DoD's designation for reconnaissance, the Q designated that it was an unmanned aircraft, and the 1 was just because it was the first of this design. However, in 2001, the craft was given its final and best-known designation, the MQ-1 Predator. The design philosophy behind the Predator drone was to produce a vehicle that was capable of loitering high above the battlefield or areas of interest for extended periods of time so to allow a constant flow of tactical information to be transmitted to commanders both on the battlefield and back at base.
This gives a significant advantage in battles, all while presenting no risk to the life of the pilot. And shortly after it started service, the Predator was capable of much more than just information gathering, as we'll soon find out. The Predator has seen service in Pakistan, Bosnia, Serbia, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria, and Somalia, and that's naming just a few.
It has also been used by border patrols to surveil areas of possible illegal immigration along the US-Mexico border. It is still in use today, having been used as recently as 2020 by the police to get a view on the situation. on the George Floyd riots.
The first deployment of the RQ-1 was a reconnaissance mission over the Balkans in July 1995 during Operation Nomad Vigil. It even played a role in Operation Desert Storm, providing vital information to tank battalions about the locations and movement of enemies on the ground. In 2000, during Operation Afghan Eyes, the Predator was enlisted in locating and surveilling Osama bin Laden.
After months of flying around the mountains of Afghanistan and Iraq, it identified a man that matched his height. wore long white robes and had a beard. Based upon this, the CIA designated the target as probably Bin Laden, and that was the official name. The US sought to engage this target, but the host country remains unknown which country this was would not grant the right to carry missiles in their airspace.
However, following the horrific events of the 11th of September, 2001, the US insisted on receiving this clearance, going so far as to ship missiles to the host country to be ready. In 2011, only 26 days later, However, on October 7, 2001, the US was granted permission to carry autonomous guided missiles within this country's airspace, and that same day, its designation was changed to MQ-1 in preparation for its first combat mission. Over the coming months, over 100 airstrikes were carried out on known al-Qaeda positions, including the probably bin Laden target and a convoy carrying a known high-ranking al-Qaeda official. On the 4th of March, 2002, an MQ-1 was deployed to an active battle zone between a fortified Taliban machine gun post and A team of Army Rangers whose Chinook had crashed in the Takur-Gar mountains in Afghanistan. Prior to its arrival at the scene, F-22 Raptors and A-10 Warthogs had carried out airstrikes with little effect.
The gun post was just too fortified for any serious damage to be inflicted. However, upon its arrival, the Predator released one of its AGM missiles and destroyed the position. The operation would later become known as the Battle of Roberts Bridge. And this is really what defines the Predator as such a formidable aircraft.
On the grounds It is small and unassuming. In the air, it is quiet and slow. And while this isn't the most cinematic of scenes, it is a truly terrifying one for those who find themselves on the receiving end of it. Precision and efficiency are the overarching rules of the Predator.
If machines like the F-35 and the A-10 are the hammers of the US Air Force, the Predator is the scalpel. That being said, it did have its drawbacks, and on the 23rd of December 2002, a MiG-25 have shot down a Predator. a Predator that was operating in an Iraqi no-fly zone.
As the MiG approached, the Predator made an effort to escape, but if you've seen our video on the MiG, you'll know that compared to this jet, the fleeing Predator might as well have been standing still. The Predator fired one of its stinger missiles at the MiG, but it veered off course and missed. The MiG then responded with its own heat-seeking missile, which didn't miss.
Instead, it made contact with the drone's wing, sending it into a spiral and crashing into the ground. This encounter marked the first time in history. that a conventional aircraft and a drone had engaged in combat. The Predator had a successful career, spanning over 20 years.
In October 2015, General Atomics delivered the very last RQ-1 to the Italian government, and in 2018, the USAF announced the retirement of the last of its Predator drones. It was replaced with the MQ-9 Reaper drone, which is essentially the Predator's bigger, fatter brother. Today, they are still in use mainly for civilian purposes, such as wildfire prevention, civil protection, and by a few militaries around the world.
If you're a regular viewer of megaprojects, you know that a 20 year lifespan for any vehicle is not a particularly significant amount of time when compared to that of, say, the B-52 bomber or the U-2 spy plane. But think about what has changed in the last 20 years. GPS, smartphones, the beginning of the cyber age. Think about how long your phone lasts before it becomes obsolete.
For this machine to have remained relevant for as long as it did is quite the achievement. And as technological progress roars ahead at an ever-increasing rate, it will be a long time before any one machine delivers such longevity. The past 20 years have cemented the Predator's place in history.
It will be remembered not perhaps as the first drone, but as the first of its class. What came before it didn't match up to its superb design. What comes after will struggle to measure up to its innovation. While it was never meant as a machine of destruction, that is how it will be remembered.
Whether that's for the better or for the worse, that's not for us to decide.