The US army is to deploy a squadron of modern drones in Iraq as part of its programs aimed at reducing the military mortality rate.

The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph (480 kph) and reach the height of 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). It is outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles.

The Reaper is controlled by a video console 7,000 miles (11,265 kilometers) away in Nevada.

The arrival of these outsized US "hunter-killer" drones, in aviation history's first robot attack squadron, will be a watershed moment even in an Iraq that has seen too many innovative ways to hunt and kill, according to International Herald Tribune.

"The Reaper is to fly over Iraq soon," says the regional US air commander. "We're still working on that," Lt. Gen. Gary North added.

Air Force officers estimate it will land in Iraq sometime between this fall and next spring.

"With more Reapers, I could send manned airplanes home," North said.

The Associated Press has learned that the Air Force is building a 400,000-square-foot (37,161-square-meter) expansion of the concrete ramp area now used for Predator drones at Balad, the biggest US air base in Iraq, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad. That new staging area could be turned over to Reapers.

It is another sign that the Air Force is planning for an extended stay in Iraq.

MGH/BGH