Since entering service in 1995, the Predator drone has proven itself as the first remotely piloted aircraft to gather useful and consistent reconnaissance and surveillance intel in combat, and the first to remotely attack targets with its own weapons. A new version hopes to establish another first: Operate in civil airspace, starting with Europe. General Atomic's updated Predator made its maiden flight last month in Palmdale, California. The Certifiable Predator B is the latest in a lineage that include several models of the original MQ-1 Predator, and numerous incarnations of the beefier Predator B--renamed the MQ-9 Reaper--upon which the new model is based. It's slated to enter service in late 2018 with the UK's Royal Air Force, which has ordered 16, plus the ground stations that house the cockpits and communication hardware.