Dmitri Gredenko's nuclear-armed RQ-2 during takeoff
The RQ-2 Aerial Drone was a unmanned aerial drone developed by the United States military. The RQ-2 had stealth technology that made it difficult to locate on radar and a maximum flight speed of 400 miles per hour. It required a runway of at least 500 feet when landing.
During Day 6, Dmitri Gredenko planned to use a stolen RQ-2 drone (designated 0709) to deliver one of his suitcase nuclear bombs to San Francisco. Yuli and some accomplices delivered the stolen drone to Dmitri Gredenko and his fellow terrorist cell members at an aircraft graveyard in the Shadow Valley north of Los Angeles. With the help of Abu Fayed and his men, they retrofitted the drone to carry the nuclear bomb and detonate when it arrived in close proximity to the city. ("Day 6: 3:00pm-4:00pm", "6:00pm-7:00pm")
The drone, after the crash landing
The drone was launched at 7:05 pm, piloted by Gredenko's programmer Victor, who was working from 1530 Hillcrest near the offices of CTU Los Angeles. General Walsh at Edwards Air Force Base scrambled F-16s to intercept the aircraft, but was unable to locate it in time. Instead, CTU agents tracked a breach in their internal systems and determined where the drone was being controlled, then dispatched a team led by Jack Bauer. Bauer fatally injured Victor and took the controls, barely managing to stop the bomb from detonating by crash-landing it in an industrial park on the outskirts of the city. ("7:00pm-8:00pm")
Background information and notes[]
- The drones seen in Season 6 are Scaled Composites Model 396s which is identical to the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk but are half the size. In the show, these drones are referred with designation RQ-2.