
- 369 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
"Fascinating . . . a soup-to-nutsāor ground-to-airāhistory of the world's most potent unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV." ? The Wall Street Journal
The creation of the first weapon in history whose operators can stalk and kill an enemy on the other side of the globe was far more than clever engineering. As Richard Whittle shows in Predator, it was one of the most profound developments in the history of military and aerospace technology.
Once considered fragile toys, drones were long thought to be of limited utility. The Predator itself was resisted at nearly every turn by the military establishment, but a few iconoclasts refused to see this new technology smothered at birth. The remarkable cast of characters responsible for developing the Predator includes a former Israeli inventor who turned his Los Angeles garage into a drone laboratory, two billionaire brothers marketing a futuristic weapon to help combat Communism, a pair of fighter pilots willing to buck their white-scarf fraternity, a cunning Pentagon operator nicknamed "Snake," and a secretive Air Force organization known as Big Safari. When an Air Force team unleashed the first lethal drone strikes in 2001 for the CIA, the military's view of drones changed nearly overnight.
Based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews, Predator reveals the dramatic inside story of the creation of a revolutionary weapon that forever changed the way we wage war and opened the door to a new age in aviation.
"Fresh and authoritative . . . [Whittle] delivers action-packed details about how the CIA and the Pentagon used armed Predators to hunt for al-Qaeda leaders immediately after 9/11." ? The Washington Post
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- Contents
- Epigraph
- Prologue
- Chapter 1: The Genius of the Genesis
- Chapter 2: The Blues
- Chapter 3: A Straw Hat in Winter
- Chapter 4: Predator Reborn
- Chapter 5: Predatorās Progress
- Chapter 6: WILD Predator
- Chapter 7: The Summer Project
- Chapter 8: The Next Logical Step
- Chapter 9: Hellfire and Hesitation
- Chapter 10: Ready or Not
- Chapter 11: Wildfire
- Chapter 12: Cleared to Fire
- Chapter 13: Never Mind ⦠Weāll Do It Ourselves
- Epilogue
- Authorās Note
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
- Photos
- Acknowledgments
- Also by Richard Whittle
- About the Author
- Copyright