In 2002, what was called the RQ-1 was redesignated MQ-1 after ... of the same technologies that made the Predator an agile ...

A year later it entered service with the CIA and the U.S. Air Force as the RQ-1 (recon drone) Predator. Coinciding with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. Department of Defense was ...

In April 1996, the secretary of defense selected the U.S. Air Force as the operating service for the RQ-1 Predator system. The "R" is the Department of Defense designation for reconnaissance aircraft.

Following 2001, the RQ-1 Predator became the primary unmanned aircraft used for offensive operations by the USAF and the CIA in Afghanistan and the Pakistani tribal areas; it has also been ...