On 15 May 2004 21:18:29 GMT, (Dav1936531) wrote:

I am seeing all kinds of pics comming out of Iraq of the jihadis mulling around
in the streets carrying RPG's and AK's.

I was just wondering if it would be possible to make a Predator drone with a
.50 caliber sniper rifle in it to pick these guys off. Say, put a magazine with
50 or 100 rounds onboard, loiter the drone over bad guy areas, spot them with
the Predator's optical systems, and zap them. Human snipers using the .50 have
kill shots from over 1 mile away.

Two reasons this won't work

1. The loiters at high altitude, and even if it could be stable enough
at that distance (it can't), the rounds would tumble in flight after
running out of energy.

2. See 1.

Peter Kemp