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  • Full bibliographic data for Predator

    Title
    Predator
    Subtitle
    The Remote-control Air War Over Iraq and Afghanistan - A Pilot's Story
    Authors and contributors
    By (author) Matthew Martin, By (author) Charles W. Sasser
    Physical properties
    Format: Hardback
    Number of pages: 320
    Width: 146 mm
    Height: 222 mm
    Thickness: 30 mm
    Weight: 549 g
    Audience
    General/trade
    Language
    English
    ISBN
    ISBN 13: 9780760338964
    ISBN 10: 0760338965
    Classifications
    BISAC category code: HIS027170
    BISAC category code: TEC002000
    BISAC category code: BIO008000
    Dewey: 956.7044348
    BICMainSubject: JWG
    BIC subject category: HBLX
    BIC geographical qualifier: 1FBQ
    BIC geographical qualifier: 1FCA
    BIC time period qualifier: 3JMC
    Nielsen BookScan Product Class: T5.4
    BIC subject category: HBKW3
    Illustrations note
    16 colour illustrations
    Publisher
    Motorbooks International
    Imprint name
    Zenith Press
    Publication date
    15 February 2011
    Publication City/Country
    Osceola/US
    Main description
    The Nintendo generation has taken to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan where remotely controlled aircraft are killing America¹s enemies and saving American lives. Matt J. Martin is considered a "top gun" in the world of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). For nearly four years, he has flown hundreds of missions on two warfronts in a new kind of combat that, until recently, was largely classified Top Secret. He and his fellow Predator pilots have been actively involved in virtually every facet of the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan: tracking Osama bin Laden; capturing top al-Qaeda leader al-Zarqawi; fighting with the U.S. Marines in Fallujah; and rescuing aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan by the Taliban. This is Matt J. Martin's story and that of his aircraft, the 27-foot long Predator.
    Review quote
    "Pacific Flyer""As for the writing, it's near perfect, flows smoothly and has that certain flair that all of us who type for a living seek to achieve. Best of all, it's a great story, previously untold, by the guy who actually did it." "Air & Space Smithsonian " ."..a fascinating tale of the challenges of flying a touchy, mule-stubborn, expensive robot from half a world away."
    Flap copy
    The MQ-1 Predator is a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) used for forward observation and reconnaissance as well as targeted attacks with its two Hellfire missiles. Frequently referred to as a drone or even a robot in the press, the insectlike craft is sometimes spoken of as though it were an autonomous machine, coldly killing according to its programming. In reality, the RPA has a crew like any other aircraft--except for the fact that the crew is not on board, but safely on the ground and sometimes half a world away from the missions they're flying. "Predator" is Lt. Col. Matt J. Martin's first-person account of fighting the Global War on Terror over Iraq and Afghanistan from the controls of an RPA. From his training in Nevada to being stationed in Iraq--where his base came under attack even if he was "safe" on the ground during Predator missions--Martin provides personal insights into a program that until recently was largely classified secret. There are exciting stories of chasing and attacking armed insurgents in Baghdad and the desert countryside as well as heart-wrenching accounts of the inevitable collateral damage of urban warfare. Ironically, due to monitors fed by the Predator's targeting camera, even if stationed far away from the action, these crews witness the effects of their attacks far more closely than traditional bomber crews physically present above their targets. Regardless of where the reader stands on the war, the myth of the Predator as a cold killing machine is put to rest through the struggles of the people serving in these remote-controlled battles against insurgents and terrorists.
    Back cover copy
    From the book: From ten thousand feet in the sky I peered down upon . . . a technical college taken over by insurgents in the heart of Baghdad. It was after midnight. Streets were unlighted or poorly lighted. . . . Using an infrared sensor to register heat signatures, I picked out machine-gun and rocket-propelled-grenade fire coming from top windows of the college, a blink-blink-blink of muzzle flashes that pinned down a squad of U.S. Army mechanized infantry on the wrong side of the Euphrates River.I carried a pair of Hellfire missiles beneath my wings, but my task was not to engage the enemy directly. Instead, I was to coordinate with and mark targets for an AC-130U "Spooky.." . . As soon as the gunship reported on-site in the night below me, my sensor operator and I began to "sparkle" targets with our infrared marking laser, lighting them up for IR sensors to detect. The Spooky opened fire with the sound of skies ripping apart on doomsday. . . . Hostile incoming suppressed, the army ground commander came on the radio and thanked me and the AC-130 crew profusely. . . . I stood up to stretch and regain my bearings in the "cockpit" of my aircraft. . . . Then I remembered that Trish had asked me to pick up a gallon of milk on the way home.You see, I wasn't in Iraq. Not yet. I was at Nellis Air Force Base, in Nevada, 7,500 miles from Baghdad.
    Biographical note
    Major Matthew Martin is a career U.S. Air Force officer currently based at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. Charles W. Sasser has published more than 50 books and 3,000 magazine articles and short stories. Sasser is a Vietnam and Iraq War veteran with 29 years of military service.
    Description for sales people
    • First book by a pilot of a Predator in combat. • Includes combat action in Iraq and Afghanistan. • Relates the limitations as well as the capabilities of the technology.