If the Predator was the scout, the MQ-9 Reaper was the executioner. General Atomics began developing the Predator B as a privately funded venture in 1998, and the prototype first flew in February 2001. The Air Force, impressed by the Predator’s performance but hungry for more power and payload, directed Congress to fund two pre-production YMQ-9s after the 9/11 attacks. The aircraft that emerged was a turboprop giant: a 66-foot wingspan, a 900-horsepower Honeywell TPE331 engine, and seven hardpoints capable of carrying Hellfire missiles, GBU-12 laser-guided bombs, and JDAMs. The USAF named it "Reaper" in 2006, and the first production-model combat flight in support of Operation Enduring Freedom took place on 25 September 2007. Where the Predator had been a reconnaissance platform with a sting, the Reaper was purpose-built as a hunter-killer—three times faster, nine times more powerful, and capable of striking time-sensitive targets with precision across continents. By 2014, the MQ-1 and MQ-9 enterprise had flown more than two million hours. The Reaper remains the backbone of the U.S. Air Force’s remotely piloted aircraft fleet, a machine that proved the drone could do more than watch—it could decide, and destroy.