Air Force converts F4 to a drone (unmanned aerial vehicle)
Armed Predator and Reaper drones have become the primary weapons in the fight against Pakistani militants. But they can be pricey; the Reapers come in at around a hundred million dollars each. Which is why the Air Force is working on a cheaper option: killer zombies.
Visit Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, and you’ll see rows of obsolete F-4 Phantom II aircraft – or at least their gutted carcasses. This is the Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Center or AMARC — whatever you do, don’t call it the Boneyard. For many years, it has been common practice to resurrect these deceased planes as QF-4 unmanned drones, so that they can have a brief and undignified existence as “full-scale aerial targets.” Everything in the inventory — from Sidewinder missiles to Patriots — have been tested on one at some point, even though some find it “kind of hard to shoot at such a magnificent aircraft.”
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