Strategy Page has revealed that US Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has received the first of the new Sky Warrior drones. Sky Warrior is a “substantially advanced” and updated version on the Predator drone (Wikipedia has details here).
The SOCOM MQ-1C unit, is a newly formed quick reaction capability unit to support special operations (Special Forces, SEALs, rangers, NATO commandos) in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to a report in Aviation Week last December about Sky Warrior and the new units, they were created as part of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance surge.
NOTE: Last post for a while as I’m taking a break with the family….