A U.S. Air Force unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) MQ-9 Reaper lands for the first time in Tennessee ahead of Exercise
Whiskey Fury 2023 (WF23) for public viewing during the
2023 Great Tennessee Air Show.
The MQ-9 Reaper is employed primarily as an intelligence-collection asset
and secondarily against dynamic execution targets. Given its significant
loiter time, wide-range sensors, multi-mode communications suite, and
precision weapons, it provides a unique capability to perform strike,
coordination, and reconnaissance against high-value, fleeting, and
time-sensitive targets.
Reapers can also perform the following
missions and tasks: intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,
close air support, combat search and rescue, precision strike,
buddy-lase, convoy and raid overwatch, route clearance, target
development, and terminal air guidance. The MQ-9's capabilities make
it uniquely qualified to conduct irregular warfare operations in
support of combatant commander objectives.
