The current batch of UAVs trade speed for endurance. But that creates a problem of responsiveness when requested a strike is called in on a target at a distance.
My proposal would be to have a GPS (maybe laser) guided weapon, similar to a Hellfire, that has a booster to give it decent range and speed. The idea is to have something with about a 150nm range and a 35lb warhead like a Hellfire which seems to work nicely. This would give a Predator a 250nm kill radius, and would permit ground troops to get a strike on a time critical target much faster than waiting for the Predator to fly there.
FWIW - what got me thinking on this is an article I read in using B-1 bombers for CAS in Afghanistan. That's an expensive airplane (IMHO) to be using up it's flight hours for plinking at terrorists. There are also no replacement aircraft for the B-1 in the pipeline.
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