Lifesaving Liberty

摘要

Ground troops in Afghanistan have come to rely heavily on a rather unglam-orous-looking airplane flying thousands of feet above. The small, unarmed aircraft listens for enemy signals and watches the blind curves ahead of the troops, looking for signs of planted bombs or contacts with people who may-or may not-be the enemy. The eye in the sky is the MC-12 Liberty, a relatively recent addition to the Air Force's inventory, which serves a unique, niche role in the service's intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance effort in Afghanistan.