The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (originally the Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the CIA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Royal Air Force, and the Italian Air Force. The MQ-9 and other UAVs are referred to as Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft (RPV/RPA) by the U.S. Air Force to indicate their human ground controllers. The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance...

Controllers of the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). Predator pilot Jonathon Johnson, left, an air interdiction agent for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, pilots a Predator aircraft in the ground control station for the Predator B unmanned aerial systems (UAS) April 3, 2009, at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection UAS operations center at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., as UAS instructor pilot Bob Concannon operates the sensor controls. The Predator is a new high-tech tool being used to help in flood fight planning for the first time in North Dakota. It has been recording flood imagery, which is being used for positioning of National Guard flood fighting personnel and resources.