Latest news with #Reapers
Chicago Tribune
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Plano's Jason Phillips pulls double duty as shortstop and pitcher. His all-star approach? ‘Work two times harder.'
Uncommitted heading into his senior year, Plano's Jason Phillips knows he has to work extra hard to get his name out there. Playing at a smaller high school presents some challenges in that regard, but the shortstop/pitcher is doing his best to increase his visibility this summer. Playing in the Double Duty Classic at the Chicago White Sox's Rate Field was a step in that direction. 'Really all you need is an opportunity,' Phillips said. 'If you perform out there, that opens the way to plenty more opportunities. I think events like this definitely help. 'I love where I'm from. I just have to work two times harder.' Phillips impressed both on the mound and with a sharp single at the plate. Walking into a professional stadium for the first time as a player left a profound impact on Phillips. 'I've never played on a field like this before,' Phillips said. 'Just walking into the dugout was surreal. Walking into the clubhouse and seeing your name on the plate, putting on the jersey, it was surreal.' The nature of the event itself, which was being hosted to honor the old East-West Negro League games that were held at Comiskey Park, also wasn't lost on Phillips. The game was filled with Black players, which resonates with Phillips. Look no further than the number he wears for the Reapers, the same one made famous by Jackie Robinson. 'Having that experience is important to him,' said former Plano coach Nate Hill, who is taking over as the Reapers' athletic director this year. 'He's sporting No. 42 for us, so it's definitely something he doesn't take lightly.' Perhaps more importantly, there were dozens of college coaches and professional scouts on hand at Rate Field as well. He's still patiently trying to find a college destination. 'I'm just trying to go out there and have fun,' Phillips said. 'When I play my best, hopefully somebody sees that and that's where I end up. I try not to put too much pressure on myself.' What the scouts are seeing is a transformed player. Already a fearsome hitter at 6-foot-1, 226 pounds, Phillips took a massive jump this season with his athleticism. The statistic that stands out, however, is a program-record seven triples. He never hit a triple in his career before this season. 'Becoming a full player is going to pay off for him,' Hill said. 'He dropped over 30 pounds, and it really showed this spring. He was super athletic. His bat spoke for himself. 'He played shortstop for us, and he played a fantastic shortstop.' Oswego's Kamrin Jenkins is one of Phillips' closest friends. They're also travel teammates at Top Tier West, and Jenkins was Phillips' teammate at the Double Duty Classic. Jenkins has seen Phillips' transformation firsthand. 'He's like my brother,' Jenkins said. 'This past year and a half has been crucial for him. He was in the weight room. He was telling me how he was doing cardio and eating better. 'He looks like a real ballplayer now.' Hill hopes all of that translates to an opportunity for Phillips to play at a high level in college. 'He wants to put himself on the map,' Hill said. 'When I met with him coming into his freshman year, this was the ideal path and track that he and his family were on. 'Being able to see him step into that is huge. To be back-to-back all-state is huge. The success he's had has spoken for itself.' That support is another crucial part of Phillips' development. 'Sometimes, confidence can be a thing you struggle with, definitely with me too,' Phillips said. 'Being around people that believe in me and believe that I can do good things means a lot.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Predator Drones Are Being Flown Over Protesters In Los Angeles
As part of the massive deployment of federal law enforcement and even active duty troops to Los Angeles, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine Operations (AMO) department has been flying MQ-9 Predator B drones over the city. CBP has been flying these unmanned aircraft since 2005 in service of their mission of detecting illegal border crossings. Now, they are being used to conduct aerial surveillance of the protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. LA is a fair distance from the border, and the protestors are not crossing it anyway, meaning the drones are getting used outside of their main mission. This isn't the first time they've been pulled into domestic surveillance duty. During the protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in 2020, CBP flew them over Minneapolis to keep eye on the protestors there. This drew swift criticism at the time, including by Democratic members of Congress, and Predators do not appear to have been used for this purpose again until now. That said, aerial surveillance of protests, notably by helicopters, is a common practice. The question now is whether unmanned platforms will start being used more regularly, particularly under an aggressive Trump administration. Read more: The Best-Looking Pickup Trucks Ever Sold, According To Our Readers The Predator B drones (which are called "Reapers" in their military variation) used by CBP are strictly surveillance aircraft; they are not armed with any ordnance. While they do have radar systems, those are mostly useful for detecting vehicles; what's relevant here is their electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors, basically cameras capable of seeing into both visible and infrared spectrums. Eyes in the sky, in other words. The Department of Homeland Security has released some footage captured by the Predators on X, cut with some intimidating music in a clear effort to push a specific narrative (the post's text, "California politicians must call off their rioting mob," is not exactly subtle or, for that matter, accurate). Low-rent movie trailer music aside, the footage does demonstrate the drone's ability to capture wide-angle shots of the situation. For what it's worth, CBP told The War Zone that the drones are specifically "providing officer safety surveillance" and are "not engaged in the surveillance of First Amendment activities." Given that clashes with protestors is what's at issue, though, that's functionally not much of a distinction. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Business Insider
17-05-2025
- Science
- Business Insider
The reign of the Reaper drone may be coming to an end
In the Global War on Terror, America's MQ-9 Reaper was the most terrifying weapon. Armed with missiles and able to stay in the air for 24 hours, the Reaper — and its older cousin, the MQ-1 Predator — became the symbols of Drone Age remote-control warfare. But the skies are not so Reaper-friendly anymore. The Reaper built by General Atomics has a 66-foot wingspan is almost double that of small, crewed planes like the Cessna 172. Many of these big and expensive drones — the Reaper costs $30 million — have been shot down over Yemen, Lebanon, and Ukraine. This has some experts questioning whether militaries like that of the UK should stop buying expensive Medium-Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones such as the Reaper. Better to purchase smaller, cheaper drones they can afford to lose, their thinking goes. "MALE drones can provide persistent surveillance, including through clouds with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), but only if they can survive," wrote military researcher Robert Tollast in an essay for the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank. "And as that survivability is now highly questionable, it seems that the UK must look for alternative approaches." At least 15 Reapers have been shot down by Houthi rebels over Yemen since October 2023, with seven destroyed in March and April 2025, estimated losses at or above $500 million. The threat to the Reapers would likely be much greater against a more advanced military, which fields larger and more accurate air defenses. Houthi air defenses are far from cutting edge: old Soviet-made SA-2 and SA-6 missiles date back to the 1960s, or are Iranian weapons based on those designs. In the Ukraine war, Ukraine's Turkish-made TB2 Bayraktar drones — armed with laser-guided anti-tank missiles — initially devastated Russian armored columns that invaded in February 2022. But dozens of TB2s were destroyed once Russian air defenses were deployed, and the Bayraktar has disappeared from Ukrainian skies. Meanwhile, Israel's Hermes drones have fallen victim to Hezbollah anti-aircraft missiles. This has left Britain in a quandary. The British Army's MALE drone, the Watchkeeper, has proven a failure. Based on Israel's Hermes 450, the Watchkeeper produced by Thales Group and Elbit Systems first flew in 2010, but wasn't deployed until 2018. Delays, technical issues and several crashes spurred the retirement of the Watchkeeper fleet in March, less than seven years after it was fielded. "We are getting rid of Watchkeeper because that system has been in service since 2010 and, according to all the military chiefs, is out of date," Lord Vernon Croaker, a senior official in the Ministry of Defense, told the House of Commons in November 2024. With a range of almost 100 miles, the Watchkeeper could peer deep into enemy areas and locate supply depots, airbases and other targets for long-range artillery, missiles and aircraft. Thus the British Army is now embarked on Project Corvus, which calls for a long-endurance surveillance drone that can stay airborne for 24 hours and fly deep penetration missions. But this may only result in another MALE drone too expensive to buy in quantity, and too vulnerable to be expendable. These same issues threaten the Reaper ($30 million) and the Bayraktar TB-2 ($5 million). "Assessments in Ukraine would suggest that the point at which a UAV becomes attritable is a unit price below $200,000 for ISR [surveillance missions]," Tollast wrote. This creates a cost-benefit dilemma. Hordes of cheap, expendable first-person view (FPV) drones have become the dominant weapon in the Ukraine war, paralyzing bold battlefield maneuvers and practically driving armored vehicles off the battlefield. These are mass-produced commercial drones that can be rigged for military missions at a total cost of hundreds of dollars. Most of these have limited payload capacity, altitude and a range of only around 10 miles. On the other end of the spectrum is the airliner-sized RQ-4 Global Hawk, a high-altitude $200 million drone that is being retired from the US military. A Global Hawk was destroyed by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile in 2019. In the middle are the drones like the Reaper, which can carry a 2-ton payload of missiles and sensors, has a range of 1,200 miles, and can fly at 50,000 feet. The Reapers were essential aircraft in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as they could stay in the air hunting for targets far longer than a crewed aircraft, and be placed in more dangerous airspace because there was no risk to a human flier. For example, from September 2007 to July 2008, MQ-9 flew 480 sorties totaling more than 3,800 hours in Afghanistan. In many ways, these UAVs resemble the earliest drones, which were just modified versions of manned aircraft. For example, World War II F6F Hellcat fighters converted into remote-controlled machines for target practice. The AQM-34L Firebee that flew reconnaissance missions over Vietnam was 29 feet long, not much shorter than an MQ-9. They face a glaring problem: more adversaries are armed with air defense missiles capable of knocking out aircraft-sized drones. Drones like the MQ-9 were not designed to fly in areas covered by an enemy's surface-to-air missiles. A Bayraktar's cruise speed is only 80 miles per hour, while even a relatively speedy Reaper has a cruise speed of around 200 miles per hour. Thus even a militant group like the Houthis can down an MQ-9 with an old Soviet SA-6 surface-to-air missile. This puts drones at a fork in the road — go low-cost and large volume or even higher-cost with fewer aircraft but more capability. America's Reaper replacement may do the latter: a more sophisticated — and expensive — drone that includes stealth capabilities to evade radar; radar remains the primary means for air defenses to detect targets. For Britain, with its far smaller defense budget of roughly $70 billion, an improved MALE drone isn't viable. Tollast sees several non-drone options, including Low Earth Orbit satellites, high-altitude balloons, and tethered aerostats (such as blimps), which avoid the vulnerability of medium-altitude drones. Yet satellites and balloons may not be in position when you need them, and aerostats can't be dispatched quickly into remote areas. Unless a technological breakthrough enables small UAVs to enjoy the capabilities of their larger brethren, the inability of large drones to function reduces the huge advantage of sensing the battlefield that the US and Western militaries have enjoyed.
Chicago Tribune
26-04-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
An offseason spent in weight room continues to pay off for Plano's Jason Phillips. ‘Honestly my biggest focus.'
After already making a name for himself in his first two years on the varsity, Plano's Jason Phillips came up with a singular goal to work on heading into the offseason. The junior shortstop wanted to take the next step athletically to continue his upward trajectory. 'That was honestly my biggest focus,' Phillips said. 'I wasn't really worried about anything else other than getting in the weight room.' The results? Not only is he off to another monster start offensively, collecting his 100th career hit earlier this week, the 6-foot-1, 226-pound Phillips even shifted to short after playing first base last spring. With that in mind, Phillips led the Reapers to a 9-3 nonconference win Friday at Somonauk. He had three singles, a steal, a run and an RBI along with making a dazzling play in the hole at short. Braylon Schmidt earned the win for the Reapers (6-14). He threw a complete game, allowing three unearned runs on one hit. Amari Bryant, Jake Dixon and Jackson Gates each had two hits. Noah Brandt produced the lone hit for Somonauk (8-8). Plano coach Nate Hill, meanwhile, has been impressed with Phillips' physical transformation. 'Coming into last year he wasn't necessarily someone we would stick in the middle,' Hill said. 'He got a lot more athletic, quicker and stronger. He's somebody that puts the work in. 'He committed himself to the weight room in the offseason, and it's definitely paying off for him.' Indeed, Phillips leads the Reapers in most offensive categories. He's hitting .464 with 18 runs, 14 steals, six doubles, two triples, two homers and 17 RBIs. He's also 2-3 with a 5.75 ERA. Making those statistics all the more impressive is the fact Phillips was expected to deliver for Plano — and he's done just that. 'There's a lot of pressure on him to be 'The Guy,'' Hill said. 'We lost 11 seniors. Him taking over that role as the leader of our dugout, leader on the mound and leader in the field is huge. 'We definitely have expectations for him, and he's lived up to them.' The other pressure Phillips feels is external. Phillips is the No. 75-ranked junior in Illinois according to Prep Baseball Report, yet he remains uncommitted to a college. He referred to that process 'pretty slow right now.' 'Honestly, I just try to block it out,' Phillips said. 'At the end of the day, it's just a game. I just try to come out here and give my best effort and have fun. That stuff is going to happen. 'Hopefully, after the summer, it will pick up. I'm definitely trying to play Division I. Wherever it takes me; I'm willing to play wherever.' Plano jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning Friday to set the tone, but Somonauk responded. The Bobcats couldn't get any closer after cutting the lead to 6-3 at one point. 'We're not a team that's going to go quietly into the night,' Somonauk coach Troy Felton said. 'We've hung with a lot of bigger schools this year, just haven't had quite enough to put them away. 'They will rise to the occasion.' On the mound, Phillips can hit 90 mph on the gun. Sometimes, control eludes him, but Hill is being patient. 'He brings velocity,' Hill said of Phillips. 'When he's throwing strikes, he's tough to hit. There are times he can still get wild. When he's in the zone, he's darn near unhittable.' Just like his patience with his college search, Phillips knows that aspect will come. 'I think consistency is the part I need to work on,' he said. 'I think it's just the mental part.'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Houthis shoot down growing number of US drones
Three U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drones have been shot down by Houthi militants in Yemen this past week, bringing the number of drones that have been brought down by the Houthis since March 15, when the Trump administration began a sustained air campaign against the militant group, to six, according to a U.S. official. Since the start of the air operation, the U.S. military has provided few details about the airstrike campaign against the Houthis that the Trump administration has described being much larger than anything undertaken during the Biden administration. The Trump administration has said the intent of the airstrike campaign is for the Houthis to cease their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea region. The last publicly available number of how many U.S. airstrikes had been carried out came from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt two weeks after the start of the air campaign, when she said more than 200 airstrikes had already been launched. The number of airstrikes in what the Pentagon has called Operation Rough Rider has now risen to approximately 750 since March 15, a U.S. official told ABC News. But in that time, the Houthis have successfully been able to shoot down a significant number of MQ-9 Reaper drones that provide real-time surveillance and reconnaissance information that is key in finding the targets for those airstrikes. Seven Reaper drones have been brought down by the Houthis since the beginning of March, with six of them occurring since March 15 and three of them over the past week, the official said. At least 15 Reapers have been brought down by the Houthis since October 2023, when they began targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea region in what they claim was done in support of Hamas. The U.S. Air Force has about 280 Reapers in its inventory, each costing about $28 million, according to the Congressional Research Service. The U.S. airstrikes have been carried out by U.S. Navy F/A-18 aircraft launched from two aircraft carriers in the region, as well as by half a dozen B-2 stealth fighters from Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean. The cost of the air campaign has grown as additional assets have been moved into the region, according to U.S. officials, who said it cost an estimated $200 million worth of munitions in early April and that the costs were soon expected to increase to $1 billion. Congressional staffers were recently briefed that the airstrike campaign had experienced only limited success in destroying Houthi military weapons supplies, such as drones, missiles and command and control operations, much of which is stored in underground bunkers. The impact has been limited because the Houthis have fortified those bunkers, officials said. Last week, U.S. Central Command acknowledged an airstrike against the Houthi-controlled Ras Isa Fuel Port that it said was a funnel point for fuel that the Houthis used for their attacks on commercial shipping. "The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen," a statement from U.S. Central Command said. "This strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen, who rightly want to throw off the yoke of Houthi subjugation and live peacefully." The Houthis claimed the attacks killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 150. Houthis shoot down growing number of US drones originally appeared on
