The United States military is retiring the Predator drone.
Canada should buy them, at least a few squadrons’ worth.
While drone technology goes back at least as far back as atomic bomb testing, when old bombers and fighters were converted into drones to fly through irradiated mushroom clouds to collect fallout samples, it was only with the coming of the MQ-1 Predator that they truly became mainstream.
The Predator allowed for instantaneous, persistent observation of an area of interest, so long at the other guys did not have either fighter planes or surface to air missiles to shoot it down. By strapping a couple lightweight Hellfire missiles onto it, the drone suddenly gained the ability to reach out and touch someone. Instead of just seeing the bad guy and maddeningly watch him do his thing while you scrambled to get other assets in place, now you could just press a button and he disappeared. Boom! Problem solved! Bad guy gone.
The Predator changed warfare. Since 9-11, the United States has increasingly fought drone wars, undeclared wars in countries where it felt it had to do something, but didn’t want to get dragged in. Where it would be too messy to send in ground troops on helicopters like they did in Vietnam, one could simply fly a drone or two high overhead, all day long, every day and eventually kill someone. Collateral damage meant wives, children and other unrelated people routinely got blown to smithereens, too, but at least Americans weren’t coming home in body bags.
The Predator could carry only a couple missiles, though, and it was slow, exceedingly slow, painfully slow. That’s great for flying lazy circles around a target, but not for getting to a problem area pronto. It has since given way to the MQ-9 Reaper, which is much more heavily armed, and much faster. It’s also more expensive to operate.
And that’s the beauty of the Predator. Of all the airborne and space-borne surveillance assets available, the Predator was by far the cheapest with that sort of capability. I’m talking borscht cheap.
So why would Canada want these used Predators?
Number one, we have next to zero drone capability organic to our military. The next time we go somewhere, anywhere, on land, we should have a number of Predators flying top cover 24/7. Whether that’s peacekeeping or something like Afghanistan, having our own drones is crucial in the 21st century. Certainly having two of our own airborne over Kandahar province would have been highly useful from 2007-13 for our troops on the ground, the eye in the sky and a few Hellfires to boot. Yeah, we had American support in that regard, but there's nothing like your own.
Having a real-time view of the battlespace is one of the most valuable assets any commander can have. And if we carry Hellfire missiles on them, we might be able to do some close air support, too.
But domestically is where the Predator could be of real use to Canada. We should have a handful flying up and down each of our coasts, day in, day out. They could take care of mundane maritime surveillance for next to nothing compared to any other option. Additionally, they would be incredibly valuable for search and rescue, with thermal imaging picking up anyone still alive in the water. We won’t be arming these birds, since Spanish fishing trawlers likely won’t be needing a Hellfire in their wheelhouse.
Whenever a Coast Guard or Royal Canadian Navy Ship has to do a boarding, having a drone flying overhead, watching what is happening on the opposite side of the vessel, would be invaluable.
In the arctic, we could also have a few Predators flying regular surveillance flights.
There may not be a lot of life left in these airframes, but some of the newer models, soon to be retired, should surely be able to give us a decade or more of use.
Compared to what we have right now for drone capability, essentially nothing, a few squadrons of cheap Predators would be an enormous benefit to our military.
If we ever deploy troops on the ground, anywhere, we should have drone support for them. Period.
Justin, go tell Donald we’ll take 36 off his hands. We’ll give him a hell of a deal.
— Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net.
