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Military

San Diego Firm Wins Huge Contract For Controversial Aircraft

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., in Poway, makers of the Predator and Reaper Drones, the unmanned aircrafts that have been the subject of some controversy lately for allegedly killing civilians, was awarded a $51,509,634 contract which will procure fiscal 2008 MQ-9 Reaper Aircraft initial spares, deployment readiness packages, and ground support equipment. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

Predators and Reapers heavily armed with hellfire missiles and other explosives have become an increasingly important part of America's military strategy against suspected insurgents. But civilians have reportedly suffered as a result of these drones, as well. The Brookings Institute estimates that for every militant killed, 10 civilians have died in Pakistan alone as a result of these drones ' approximately 600 civilians in all.

Despite military authorities admitting that more than one-third of their drone arsenal crashes are due to technical or human error, they've tripled the amount of daily patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years, according to a 2009 New York Times article. The Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, which was written about in a recent evocative Daily Wildcat piece, is one of four locations in the country where Air National Guard has been ordered to full-time drone duty to help compensate for the lack of crew. On duty, the reserve pilots sit in 'dimly-lit trailers,' according to Times reporters, operating joysticks in front of computer screens scanning roads and finding targets 10,000 miles away.

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Not surprisingly, the New York Times reports, 'a few crew members have had a difficult time watching the strikes. And some pilots said it can be hard to transition from being a computer-screen warrior to dinner at home or their children's soccer games.'

The aircrafts have also been deployed along our border. The Dept. of Homeland Security recently assigned a fourth Predator drone to guard the U.S.-Mexico border.