10. Drone the Reaper
As if the word ‘weapon’ is not scary enough, they had to add ‘reaper’ into this drone’s name. Probably coming up with that name didn’t take as long as it needed to develop this unmanned combat aerial vehicle. Since the first time it was tested on a flight in 2001, it took six years to finally be used in service.
And time was not the only thing spent for this MQ-9 Reaper Drone. Nearly $12 billion was spent on this program as well. As for each unit, it costs around $17 million alone.
Also known as Predator B, the Reaper has been replacing F-16 in the fighter squadron. Instead of getting on board, the two pilots only need to control the drone remotely from the ground station.
Each of the Reaper can travel as fast as 482 kph. It carries four AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles powerful enough to destroy a building. With some modifications, the Reaper can also carry two GBU-12 Paveway laser-guided bombs and GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition. It can shoot them from seven kilometers above the ground.
