CIA Used 500-Pound GNAT-750 Payloads to Watch Balkan Troops
By Marcus Boone ·
Bosnian troop movements and supply caches were placed under unblinking observation while the CIA bypassed military procurement to field a working surveillance system.
It weighed 1,140 pounds including gas and payload, with a wingspan of just over 35 feet. It could climb at 1,100 feet per minute and hold a service ceiling of 25,000 feet. This was the General Atomic GNAT-750, a long-endurance tactical surveillance system that began flying in 1989 and would eventually evolve into the Predator.
According to a program description mirrored by the FAS Intelligence Resource Program, several GNAT-750s were deployed to Croatia, Bosnia, and Albania. Their mission was the kind of persistent, unblinking observation that defines modern conflict: monitoring "air bases, entrenchments, supply caches and troop movements." In Albania, this likely meant operations centered around sites like the Gjadër Air Base, where the military maintains its presence in the Lezhë County region.
A Very Low Cost per Flight Hour
The record highlights a tension between the two primary arms of the American security state. While the Department of Defense spent its time running tests, the Central Intelligence Agency had already "fielded a working system." The FAS mirror notes that the CIA appears to have provided "more capability for less time and money," delivering near-real-time information to field commanders at what seemed to be a very low cost.
This efficiency is the hallmark of the Agency's approach to surveillance. Where the military bureaucracy often gets bogged down in the procurement cycle, the CIA treats the operational environment as the laboratory. The document notes that the GNAT-750 was put to work in the field so that its technicians could "continue to work out the bugs" while the machine was already collecting data. It is a philosophy of deployment first, refinement second.
Document imagery from irp.fas.org From the files: irp.fas.org
RG-8 Schweitzer and the Relay Gap
Despite the CIA's efficiency, the GNAT-750 faced a humbling physical limitation. The drone could stay airborne for 24 to 30 hours, but it could not speak for itself across the horizon. It required a manned relay aircraft—the RG-8 Schweitzer—to pass data from the UAV to the ground.
The result was a mathematical absurdity. Although the RG-8 had an eight-hour flight time, "6 of each 8 hours was spent getting to and from the relay orbit sight." The state-of-the-art drone, capable of loitering for days, was effectively tethered to a human pilot who spent the vast majority of his mission simply commuting. This gap in the relay chain "greatly limits the overall effectiveness of the system."
By mid-1994, the Agency began looking for a way to cut the human out of the loop entirely. The plan was to buy more GNAT-750s and modify half of them to act as relay aircraft. By replacing the human pilot with another drone, the CIA could finally realize the full potential of the 30-hour endurance window.
Document imagery from irp.fas.org From the files: irp.fas.org
Signals Intelligence and Sea Spray
The CIA's specific variant, the Gnat 750-45 Lofty View, carried a 450-500 pound payload. This included a synthetic aperture radar with one-foot resolution and a chin turret housing three electro-optical or infrared sensors. This combination allowed the Lofty View to transmit moving video in real-time, covering an 8,000-foot swath of land from its ceiling of 25,000 feet.
But the Agency wanted more than just pictures. The record indicates a push to add a signals intelligence payload to the UAV. These new sensors were designed to pick up both "communications and electronic intelligence information," giving NATO and United Nations forces a direct window into Bosnian radars and communication systems. The drone was transitioning from a camera in the sky to a vacuum for electronic data.
This expansion of capability was constantly threatened by the environment. The GNAT-750 was vulnerable to "inclement weather," specifically dust and moisture. In coastal regions—such as the damp climates containing "sea spray" found in Albania—the delicate internal electronics required obsessive protection. The document stresses the need for "portable maintenance hangars" to keep technicians and avionics dry and clean.
As the program matured, the GNAT-750 gave way to the I-GNAT. This improved version featured a turbo-charged engine that pushed its operating altitude to 30,500 feet and its endurance to 48 hours. These turbo-charged variants entered production and were delivered to both US and overseas customers.