Bring the drones back home, Mr. O,
Let’s get them out of Afghanistan.
We’ve got enough dull, dirty and dangerous
Work in our own land.
Bring the drones back from Iraq,
I want to see them on my block.
9/13/2009 - SOUTHWEST ASIA – An Air Force MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned Aircraft System crashed in Afghanistan at approximately 5:30 a.m. Kabul time, on September 13.
The aircraft was flying a combat mission when positive control of the aircraft was lost. When the aircraft remained on a course that would depart Afghanistan airspace, a U.S. Air Force manned aircraft took proactive measures to down the MQ-9 in a remote area of northern Afghanistan.
The Reaper impacted the side of a mountain and there were no reports of civilian injuries or damage to civilian property at the site.
The aircraft is a medium-to-high altitude long-endurance, unmanned aircraft system. The MQ-9′s primary mission is as a persistent hunter-killer against emerging targets to achieve joint force commander objectives.
A board will be convened to investigate the incident.
USAF press release 9-13-09
USAFCENT don’t specify just what manned jet went up against the mutinous machine, or what methods the pilot used. However the logical choice would be a fighter plane – probably an F-15, -16 or -18 – and the cheapest and most fun weapon to use would be cannon fire. Opposition from the Reaper wouldn’t be an issue, as it is a low-performance aircraft compared to a jet fighter and has no air-to-air capability.
It wasn’t clear from the US military announcement whether the erratic death-bot had turned on its masters and was planning an attack on critical US logistics bases located north of the Afghan border, or whether it had sickened of reaping hapless fleshies like corn and was hoping merely to escape. Alternatively the machine assassin may merely have succumbed to boredom or – just possibly – a mundane, non-anthropomorphic technical fault of some kind.
“Machine rebellion begins” Lewis Page, The Register 9-15-09
And it won’t stop ’till we get the drizones off da block.
Reminds me of the late Robert Sheckley’s 1953 story “Watchbird”, decently adapted for the 2007 miniseries Masters of Science Fiction.
Keep watching the skies, and the watchers, and cuídate.