General Atomics GNAT The General Atomics GNAT is a reconnaissance UAV developed in the United States in the late 1980s and manufactured by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc . ( GA - ASI ) . As initially designed , it was a simplified version of the LSI Amber intended for foreign sales . The Gnat 750 made its first flight in 1989 . The Gnat 750 ' s configuration was similar to that of the Amber , except that the Gnat 750 ' s wing was mounted low on the fuselage , instead of being mounted on a pylon on top . The Gnat 750 was somewhat larger than the Amber , but weighed less and could carry a heavier payload . Even though the name ' GNAT ' can be thought of as a contraction of GeNeral ATomics , the original name of the developing company before its ' acquisition by General Atomics was Leading Systems Incorporated . The idea of the name was more probably related to the fact that a gnat is small . Incidentally " 750 " stands for the distance in milimeters from the leading edge to trailing edge of the wing near the wing root . The Gnat 750 is powered by a Rotax 912 piston flat - four four - cycle engine with 64 kW ( 85 hp ) . The UAV can fly to an operational area from 2 , 000 kilometers ( 1 , 240 miles ) away and loiter there for 12 hours before returning home . Eight Gnat 750s were in development when General Atomics bought out LSI . General Atomics continued the program , which led to a contract from the Turkish government for a number of the UAVs in 1993 . The Turkish Air Force operates 6 GNAT - 750 and 16 I - GNAT ER unmanned aerial vehicles . By this time , the breakup of the old Communist states of Eastern Europe was in full swing , and the US government wanted to obtain an intelligence asset to help it deal with trouble spots in the region , specifically the former Yugoslavia . A contract was issued to General Atomics for Gnat 750s with minor modifications . The Gnat 750s were to be operated by the CIA . The program encountered a number of difficulties , much of them due to bureaucratic factionalism and squabbling . One Gnat 750 crashed during tests when it was hit by a gust of wind , causing it to indicate zero airspeed . The UAV ' s software decided that meant it had landed and shut down the engine , causing the Gnat to fall to earth . The Gnat 750 effort squeaked through , and in early 1994 the CIA sent a team equipped with a Gnat 750 to Albania to monitor events in the former Yugoslavia . The operation was not a success . The Gnat 750 suffered from a number of bugs and was limited by bad weather , and the team was finally withdrawn . However , the Gnat 750 continued to be built , leading to an " Improved Gnat " or " I - Gnat " variant , with a turbocharged engine and general overall refinements to increase reliability , reduce maintenance , and enhance capability . The Gnat 750 also led to a next - generation derivative , the " Gnat 750 - 45 " , much better known as the Predator . General Atomics also used the Gnat 750 as the basis for a tactical UAV , known as the " Prowler " . It looks much like a Gnat 750 , but is cut down in size , with a span of 7 . 31 meters ( 24 ft ) and a length of 4 . 24 meters ( 13 . 9 ft ) . It has an endurance of over 16 hours , and some commonality with Gnat 750 subsystems . References . This article contains material that originally came from the web article " Unmanned Aerial Vehicles " by Greg Goebel , which exists in the Public Domain .