FOLLOWING THE loss of two General Atomic Predator recognaissance unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) over Bosnia, the US Department of Defense (DoD) may deploy one of the US Army's Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Hunter UAVs into the region.
The USA deployed five Predator UAVs to the Gjader airfield in Albania in July. The DoD says that one of the UAVs was command destroyed by the operators after it developed engine problems. The other Predator did not return to base, although the cause of the loss remains unknown. The Predators have now been temporarily grounded.
Four of the seven IAI Hunter UAV systems on order for the US Army have so far been delivered. The Hunter was developed by Malat IAI's UAV production factory, in co-operation with TRW. Each US system includes four control stations and eight UAVs.
Source: Flight International
