SURVENT

Here is a story that comes from Brent Sadler, a CNN correspondent on assignment in Afghanistan. This aircraft is much like the one I covered in a prior post after one crashed in Arizona during border partrol. The huge difference between this one and that one is that the drones being used in Afghanistan are heavily armed with two powerful Hellfire missles.

CNN was given rare access to the highly classified planes, which are operated by the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as the CIA. Each plane is worth about $4 million and armed with two powerful Hellfire missiles.

"This is the way of the future," Songer said. "Just the ability from the other side of the world to locate and destroy enemy targets is incredible, unbelievable -- to be able to do this from Vegas and destroy high value targets, perhaps bin Laden himself one day."

These drones definitely appear to be the way of the future in military operations. I worry that these same aircraft could eventually be used to spy on the unknowing U.S. civilian. I could foresee that these units could be fitted with a high power listening device that, when used in conjunction with the high power cameras and sensors already on these planes, could see and hear anything the government desires. Using these on civilians would probably not happen, but could. I could definitely see this type of technology being used to locate criminals in the U.S. or worldwide when there is a tip that they are somewhere secluded that sending in police or military may give away our advantage.

The Predator is the U.S. military's most sophisticated killing machine in the war on terror -- a flying assassin constantly searching for Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda members. If it's below 15,000 feet, you might hear the drone of the engine. But it's virtually impossible to see at that altitude. It's also difficult to detect by radar and very difficult for an enemy plane to shoot down. In Afghanistan, there are no enemy planes to worry about, so the Predator's spying goes unchallenged.

This is definitely some pretty sweet equipment to have in our country's arsenal.