A Predator

There is sufficient bandwidth on the datalink for two video sources to be used at one time, but only one video source from the sensor ball can be used at any time due to design limitations. Either the daylight variable aperture or the infrared electro-optical sensor may be operated simultaneously with the synthetic aperture radar, if equipped.

All later Predators are equipped with a laser designator that allows the pilot to identify targets for other aircraft and even provide the laser guidance for manned aircraft. Each Predator air vehicle can be disassembled into six main components and loaded into a container nicknamed "the coffin. The largest component is the ground control station and it is designed to roll into a C Hercules.

The Predator primary satellite link consists of a 6. The satellite link provides communications between the ground station and the aircraft when it is beyond line-of-sight and is a link to networks that disseminate secondary intelligence. Initially, all components needed to be located on the same airfield. Air Force uses a concept called "Remote-Split Operations" where the satellite datalink is located in a different location and is connected to the GCS through fiber optic cabling. This allows Predators to be launched and recovered by a small "Launch and Recovery Element" and then handed off to a "Mission Control Element" for the rest of the flight.

This allows a smaller number of troops to be deployed to a forward location, and consolidates control of the different flights in one location. Requests had been made in for the aircraft to be used in search and rescue operations following Hurricane Katrina , but because there was no FAA authorization in place at the time, the assets were not used.

This led to it being fitted with reinforced wings and stores pylons to carry munitions, as well as a laser designator. This led to a series of tests on 21 February in which the Predator fired three Hellfire missiles, scoring hits on a stationary tank with all three missiles.

The Predator

Following the February tests, the decision was made to move immediately to increment two of the testing phase, which involved more complex tests to hunt for simulated moving targets from greater altitudes with the more advanced AGMK version. The scheme was put into service, with the armed Predators given the new designation of MQ-1A.

The Predator gives little warning of attack; it is relatively quiet and the Hellfire is supersonic, so it strikes before it is heard by the target. In the winter of —, after seeing the results of Predator reconnaissance in Afghanistan see below , Cofer Black , head of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center CTC , became a "vocal advocate" of arming the Predator with missiles to target Osama bin Laden in the country.

Further weapons tests occurred between 22 May and 7 June , with mixed results. While missile accuracy was excellent, there were some problems with missile fuzing A missile launched from a Predator exploded inside one of the replica's rooms; it was concluded that any people in the room would have been killed.

However, the armed Predator did not go into action before the September 11 attacks. Budget proposals planned to retire the Predator fleet between FY and in favor of the larger MQ-9 Reaper , which has greater payload and range. The Predators would likely be stored at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base or be given to other organizations willing to take them.

The Customs and Border Patrol has shown interest, but already operate higher-performance Reapers and are having difficulty with operating costs. Coast Guard has also shown interest in land-based UAV surveillance. Foreign sales are also an option, but the MQ-1 may be subject to limitations of the Missile Technology Control Regime because it can be armed; export markets are also limited by the Reaper as well. MQ-1s will probably be placed in non-recoverable storage at the Boneyard and not sold to allies, although antenna, ground control stations, and other components may be salvaged for continued use on other airframes.

General Atomics completed manufacturing on the final RQ-1 ordered by Italy by October , marking the end of Predator A production after two decades. As of March , the U. A report in March indicated that U. Air Force had lost 70 Predators in air crashes during its operational history. Fifty-five were lost to equipment failure, operator error, or weather.

Five were shot down in Bosnia , Kosovo , Syria and Iraq. On 3 March , the U. Since its first flight in July , the MQ-1 series accumulated over 1,, flight hours [15] and maintained a fleet fully mission capable rate over 90 percent. On 22 October , the U. The RPA program began in the mids, taking 16 years for them to reach 1 million flight hours. The 2 million hour mark was reached just two and a half years after that. On 9 March , the U. Air Force officially retired the MQ-1 Predator from operational service. The aircraft was first operationally deployed in and in the last of Predators were delivered to the service, of which just over were still in service by the start of Army as well as with several foreign nations.

In , the U. Department of Defense recommended retiring Ellington Field 's th Fighter Wing 's F Fighting Falcon fighter jets a total of 15 aircraft , which was approved by the Base Realignment and Closure committee. Customs and Border Protection was reported in to be operating 10 Predators and to have requested 14 more. Rules limit the Predator behavior; it must be accompanied by a manned aircraft, and its camera must only be active above the fire. The test was to prove the UAVs could be deployed and set up at an expeditionary base within four hours of landing.

In a recent undisclosed deployment, airmen set up a portable hangar in a tent and a wooden taxiway to operate MQ-1s for a six-week period. The first overseas deployment took place in the Balkans , from July to November , under the name Nomad Vigil. Operations were based in Gjader , Albania. The UAVs were assembled and flown first by civilian contract personnel. More than 70 U. Intelligence collection missions began in July The following spring, in March , the system was redeployed to the Balkan area and operated out of Taszar , Hungary.

Dubbed "Afghan Eyes", it involved a projected day trial run of Predators over the country. The first experimental flight was held on 7 September White House security chief Richard A. Clarke was impressed by the resulting video footage; he hoped that the drones might eventually be used to target Bin Laden with cruise missiles or armed aircraft.

The three men backed an immediate trial run of reconnaissance flights. Ten out of the ensuing 15 Predator missions over Afghanistan were rated successful. On at least two flights, a Predator spotted a tall man in white robes at bin Laden's Tarnak Farm compound outside Kandahar ; the figure was subsequently deemed to be "probably bin Laden". The newly armed Predators were given the designation of MQ-1A. In the first week of June , a Hellfire missile was successfully launched on a replica of bin Laden's Afghanistan Tarnak residence built at a Nevada testing site. The Predators were now weapons-capable, but didn't carry missiles because the host country presumably Uzbekistan hadn't granted permission.

The first mission was flown over Kabul and Kandahar on 18 September without carrying weapons. Subsequent host nation approval was granted on 7 October and the first armed mission was flown on the same day. Predator P achieved the milestone while flying a hour combat mission; P was first delivered in October Since at least , the U. Central Intelligence Agency has allegedly been operating the drones out of Shamsi airfield in Pakistan to attack militants in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Since May , the MQ-1 Predator fitted with Hellfire missiles has been successfully used to kill a number of prominent al Qaeda operatives.

General Atomics MQ-1 Predator

According to Pakistani authorities, the U. Agency to strike within Pakistan territory. This was the first time in history a conventional aircraft and a drone had engaged each other in combat. Predators had been armed with AIM Stinger air-to-air missiles, and were being used to "bait" Iraqi fighters, then run.

Or a bully suddenly getting drilled by the defense mechanisms of the Predator helmet and murdered. It's these moments that kept me most entertained, demonstrating Black's unique voice that can take genre filmmaking within a studio sphere and turn it on its head with a devilish grin. If The Predator had been more a Shane Black vehicle than a Shane Black studio reboot, then perhaps the final product would have risen above the mediocrity that sinks it. Much of that mediocrity comes from the middling plotting, mostly after the first act.

For a solid half hour, I think Black has something promising, having set up the various characters and gotten them to intersect and go on the run together as a merry band of outlaws and amateur alien hunters. Once the "Loonies" break free with Dr. Brackett is where the movie loses its sense of direction. The plot just stumbles from one set piece to another, rarely with good reason. One minute they're running away from a Predator creature and the next they run into an apparently unlocked high school building rather than flee in cars and RVs.

Most of the plot movement follows little Rory, first reaching him before the bad men do, then rescuing him from Predator dogs, and Predator, and then he's kidnapped by the bad guys, then he's hunted by the Super Predator and I'm tired. This kid is a spectrum-walking, spectrum-talking plot device more on that below. It feels decidedly odd to have a super sniper paired with a renegade group of mentally disturbed and dangerous military castoffs and instead of them primarily hunting and killing a space alien they are rescuing a little boy with special needs.

It would be like having a Tarantino rouges gallery teaming up to teach a child how to read. It feels like a misapplication of the character dynamics onscreen, which again gets to my central criticism of the final film feeling too much like separate movies in conflict. The studio elements supportive yet feisty ex-wife, autistic savant, Predator dogs feel too obvious.

The action is serviceable with a few dandy practical gore effects. There's a nasty, visceral quality of the action that proudly wears its R-rating as a badge of honor, as a PG Predator movie would be a disservice to the universe's most fearsome hunter the first Alien vs.

Predator was PG; I suppose acid and florescent blood are less traumatic to be seen gushing from hacked limbs? The action gets a lot more boring once the Super Predator is introduced, an eleven-foot all-CGI monstrosity that needed a bit more work. Beforehand the Predator is a combination of makeup and practical effects, allowing longer interaction with its environment. I enjoyed the Predator breaking out of the lab. I did not enjoy the team taking on the Super Predator at night in the middle of the woods because it decided to go Seriously, the second-to-last action set piece has the flimsiest formation.

Rather than accomplish its mission, the Super Predator invites all the humans to one more game, though the alien acknowledges that "McKenna" is their only true champion. It devolves to jump scares in the spooky woods, but hey, at least characters can start being eliminated some of them so abruptly that it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it exit. There are touches throughout the action that keep things lively before ultimately succumbing yet again to the freefall of the project's creative dissonance.

The actors are enjoyable but I felt bad they weren't given more. Holbrook Logan is consistently upstaged by his eccentric band of compatriots, but only Jane, Key, and Rhodes get any personality. The other guys are just kind of there. The Tourette's syndrome tic given to Jane TV's The Expanse is rarely funny, and yet Black goes back to it again and again the adolescent kid behind me in my theater thought every profanity was the funniest thing ever committed to film.

The actors glide by on Black's signature macho, cocksure style, clinging to every new quip like a lifeline. Apocalypse has a few fun, feisty moments but is still basically featured as The Girl. Tremblay Wonder is making me rethink my evaluation of him after Room. The best actor in the movie, by far, is Brown Black Panther who has a malevolent charm that connects most fluidly with Black's sensibilities.

Even his self-satisfied laughter made me laugh. We need to talk about the film's views on autism there will be some spoilers in this paragraph, so skip ahead if desired. It's the designation of autism as a gateway to super powers never mind that having savant abilities only impacts ten percent at best. Whatever, it's an unrealistic depiction in an age of better, more nuanced depictions of mental health and disabilities. Where The Predator gets crazy is when Dr.

Brackett offers this nugget: As someone who has worked extensively with children with autism, this is not a thing. I'm not saying by any rationale that those with autism are lesser by any means but they're no more the next stage in human evolution than any other condition. Ask a person with autism if they feel like the next stage in human evolution, like an X-Men mutant. What makes matters worse is that Black confirms this strange notion when the Super Predator, surprise surprise, was most impressed with Rory McKenna and not his big bad dad.

Movies in Theaters

The Super Predator plans to take the kid back to, presumably, harvest his autism DNA so the future predators will The Predator is part sequel, part reboot, part Shane Black genre riff, part muscular R-rated action movie, part chase movie, and part Hollywood mishmash. Apparently the film underwent extensive reshoots as well, retooling the entire third act, which seems obvious in hindsight and only magnifies the disconnect between the central story elements. Only seven men showed up to the house during Dateline's portion of the investigation, a sharp decline from previous Dateline investigations.

Among the men arrested include a man Dustin McPhetridge with cerebral palsy, a man Lorne Armstrong who was arrested on his birthday while playfully asking the decoy for a birthday kiss, and a man who claimed to be a detective. This last one was tasered due to his claim that he had brought a gun with him.

The taser probes failed to stick so police chased him into the house where he was subdued. It was later found out that he was no longer a police officer at the time and had actually been fired. All men arrested face 5—10 years in prison if convicted. The series has been accused of making news rather than reporting news, blurring the line between being a news organization vs.

Montopoli argues that although Dateline NBC leaves legal punishment up to police and prosecutors, broadcasting the suspects on national television, in the context of exposing criminal behavior, is already a form of punishment which the media have no right to inflict. Montopoli also suggests that NBC News is more concerned about ratings than actually bringing online predators to justice: But NBC is first and foremost a business, and the producers' motives are not simply altruistic.

Perhaps I'm being cynical, but I find it telling that this program has been remade and rerun so often. You could argue that NBC is just making sure as many people as possible are aware predators are out there, but is it too much to think that a little thing called "ratings" might play a part as well? In the United Kingdom, columnist and television critic Charlie Brooker wrote of the show that "when a TV show makes you feel sorry for potential child-rapists, you know it's doing something wrong".

He also commented on the "overpowering whiff of entrapment " and the potential for viewer complicity. Brooker also mentioned the selection process for the actress as being disturbing by adding "Presumably someone at To Catch a Predator HQ sat down with a bunch of audition tapes and spooled through it, trying to find a sexy year-old who could pass for They'll have stared at girl after girl, umming and ahhing over their chest sizes, until they found just the right one.

And like I say, she's hot. But if you fancy her, you're a paedophile. In May , a former executive producer for Dateline named Marsha Bartel filed a lawsuit against NBC and made assertions about To Catch a Predator that contradicted what the show purports to be about. She commented on the relationship the show has with the different police organizations and the group Perverted-Justice. NBC commented on the dismissal: Perverted-Justice takes the position that it has precautions in place to thwart the entrapment issue.

Volunteers never initiate contact with the person, all communication begins with the offender, and contributors never instigate lewd conversations or talks of sexual meetings. Although Perverted-Justice volunteers wait for the suspect to initiate contact, former Dateline anchor Stone Phillips asserted that " The problem with the claim of entrapment is first that the defense applies only to overreaching conduct by the state, and thus does not apply to investigative actions taken by a purely private organization.

When Perverted Justice works in concert with a law enforcement agency, as occurred in a sting operation conducted with the Riverside, California Sheriff's Department, the involvement of the state actor allows for a possible entrapment defense. The court reasoned that in a drug sting the target is being invited to make a snap decision but, in contrast, driving to a remote meeting location afforded the defendants plenty of time to change their minds prior to reaching the destination where they planned to meet with minors. In June , Perverted-Justice was criticized following a sting operation in Collin County, Texas , as charges against 23 suspected online sex predators were dropped.

Collin County Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis claimed the cases were dropped after Perverted-Justice failed to provide enough usable evidence; however, Collin County District Attorney John Roach previously stated his position against the sting was, "We were in the law enforcement business—not show business. A judge dismissed motions to throw out indictments against seven of the 18 men arrested in the Ohio sex sting. To date, 16 pleaded guilty and two were convicted at trial.

The Predator () - Rotten Tomatoes

Defense attorneys contended the sting violated state law because of Dateline ' s involvement with Perverted-Justice and petitioned to have related videos, statements and photos suppressed. The department kept itself separate from Dateline staff during the sting as well, to avoid legal hassles later on, says Burns. Officials were positioned in a location near but not inside the house where offenders arrived for meetings. Communications and video equipment permitted authorities to keep tabs on what transpired, and all chats were transmitted directly to officials as they took place.

The potential for conflict of interest was one of several concerns that led to the non-prosecution of 23 cases in Collin County, Texas. District Attorney John Roach questioned circumstances of the May sting, stating: Who's getting paid what? Who has an axe to grind? The report critiqued certain aspects of the specials, and also investigated the controversy over the suicide of prosecutor Louis Conradt, Jr.

Love and Weiss claimed that the NBC News crew had every intention to confront Conradt, and the attorney for Conradt's family charged that Dateline chose to stop at nothing to get Conradt. Love and Weiss also claimed that Conradt's death was shrugged off by many in Murphy's police force, and the two of them left the department in disgust. The show was cancelled in , in part because an assistant to the Texas DA office shot himself after he was caught talking to and exchanging pictures with a Perverted-Justice volunteer posing as a year-old boy.

In April , Hansen announced the start of a Kickstarter campaign to fund an online reboot of the series. Predator , conducted a sting operation in conjunction with local police in Fairfield, Connecticut. At that time, Hansen reported that he was commencing negotiations with various potential broadcast partners in an effort to find a media platform on which to air the footage that was shot during the Fairfield operation. Predator installments being broadcast as a recurring segment on that show. A spin-off book, To Catch a Predator: A Newsline Investigative Report" is a video by comedy group Derrick Comedy parodying To Catch a Predator , in which a fictitious journalist catches so-called "bros" who sexually assault other "bros".

South Park spoofed the series in its episode " Le Petit Tourette ", highlighting the exploitative nature of Chris Hansen's show and having numerous pedophiles commit suicide [ citation needed ] upon realizing they'd been set up. Chris Hansen assumes that the Booty Warrior was a pedophile that fell into his trap by coming to a boy's house, but the Booty Warrior intentionally fell for the trap as Chris Hansen was his real target.

The play Meat Puppet is a dark comedy inspired by the events that took place during the Murphy, Texas investigation of To Catch a Predator. In the play, a reporter for the fictional news magazine show Red Letter catches a disgraced film actor soliciting a minor online.

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When the actor fails to meet the show's decoy in-person, the reporter convinces local authorities to arrest him in his home, live and on-air. In the first season of David Spade 's prank TV show Fameless , an innocent victim is pranked into thinking he has been mistaken for an online predator in a skit featuring Chris Hansen himself. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This is the latest accepted revision , reviewed on 15 December This article needs additional citations for verification.

Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. January Learn how and when to remove this template message. This section relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Criminal justice portal Television portal United States portal. He does not respond quickly enough, and the result is a taser shot. Why was it necessary to use the taser on this guy?

He's already demonstrated that he's not going to listen to the orders of the police officers. A lot of these guys, they are confronted with the reality that they are about to be exposed for what they did. And a lot of them may try violence to get away. The taser was used to prevent any injury to him and also to any police officers. YouTube-hosted video also available. Archived from the original on 24 September The New York Times Company.

Archived from the original on January 20,