Equipment used in warfare as a necessity must evolve and change to fit the changing situation. The essence of winning depends on who can adapt to the situation and overcome it. All of the weapon systems that we have today are what they are because they had to evolve with changing times.
The drones that we are using in Afghanistan are doing a wonderful job. The biggest reason for this is they are relatively new to the battlefield and our enemy has not had a chance to adjust to them. You can rest assured that our potential enemy is studying why they are having the success that they are and that he is devising ways to defeat them. The enemy in this war does not have access to the sophisticated technology that he needs to combat them better so he has to learn how to hide.
In a future conflict in another place things may be totally different and the factors which allow the drone to be a success now may be be changed completely. A future enemy may have sophisticated air defense technology which it could modify to use to shoot down our drones.
Our defense personnel have taken this into account and with the development of the Predator C/Avenger our Air Force military ring customers who operate it will have a craft which will have some stealth characteristics. This craft will use radar absorbing materials ahd its shape will be modified to refract radar rather than reflect it. It will be more maneuverable and faster to help it evade enemy air defenses and it will be able to fly at a 50,000 foot ceiling. It will also carry a 6,000 pound payload and fly for up to 20 hours at a sustained speed of 400 knots. Hopefully these changes will make it a fit weapons system for a future war.
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