Predator Missile



The Predator Missile is an unlockable Killstreak reward in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Once unlocked, the player can remotely control one Hellfire AGM (Air-to-Ground Missile) that is deployed via Predator UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and attempt to guide it towards enemy players. The missile will explode upon impact.

Modern Warfare 2
To use the Predator Missile, the player is required to select the killstreak from the inventory, then, after acquiring a 5 killstreak, (or 4 with the Hardline perk enabled) the player has the option to bring out a laptop. Using this laptop, the player controls an air-to-ground missile, shifting viewpoint to that of the camera on the head of the missile until the missile detonates. Enemy players will be outlined with a red square on the missile's camera. In multiplayer, however, enemies using the Cold-Blooded perk will not be outlined by a red square. The Predator Missile is shown on both teams' radars, green meaning friendly, red meaning enemy.

Pressing the fire button while the missile is traveling to its target ignites the secondary thrusters, making the missile move faster but decreasing its steering ability considerably. This is somewhat more noticeable in campaign than in multiplayer. Using the boost can be crucial when many targets are close together, as they may scatter or find cover. However, some players always use the boost immediately, which is inadvisable as it can prevent them from getting a good view of the battlefield and accurately selecting the best target zone.

Friendly
The player has to enter a Russian-occupied diner and pick up a control rig to acquire a Russian missile-equipped Predator drone during the level "Wolverines!" to help maintain a defensive perimeter in order to protect "Raptor".

The Predator is also later seen in "Contingency", where Roach uses air-to-ground missiles to terminate hostile guards in the submarine base while Price sneaks onto the submarine to launch the nuke.

Enemy
During "Wolverines!", an enemy Predator will fire AGM missiles at you if you stay in the open for too long until the player eventually steals it. You cannot use Stingers to bring down the UAV (unlike in multiplayer) as doing so would leave you with no way to take out the BTRs, unless you capture an RPG, which destroys a BTR in a single shot.

Spec Ops
The Predator appears twice in Spec Ops, neither you nor the enemy can shoot down the predator drone.

Friendly

 * Sniper Fi

Enemy

 * Homeland Security

Multiplayer
The Predator Missile is the third default killstreak perk in multiplayer, along with the UAV and Care Package. A player can unlock a Predator Missile by achieving a killstreak of 5, or 4 with the Hardline perk. Calling in a Predator Missile gives a reward of 150 XP.

Using the Predator

 * As it is with any controllable killstreak reward, finding a spot to hide is important when calling the Predator Missile, but because it takes only a few seconds, so players do not need to find out-of-the-way spots as they do with Chopper Gunners and AC-130s. A player can simply crouch or go prone behind cover, and this can help if in the middle of a firefight, to quickly eliminate the opposition.
 * The Predator Missile has a very large blast radius and only needs to land somewhat close to targets in order to eliminate them. This also allows it to kill enemies that are not exposed from the air, as long as they are near an opening of some kind that the Predator Missile can land next to.
 * The Predator Missile is not actually called in until the camera switches to its perspective, so it can be canceled while taking out the laptop or just before the camera transitions.
 * Unlike in singleplayer, which allows the player to survey the area from the Predator Drone before firing, the Predator Missile is fired immediately in multiplayer. This prevents players from using it to locate enemies for extended periods of time and prevents the missile from being easily fired at ideal locations. However, players can briefly look at enemy positions while controlling the missile.
 * Pressing the fire button activates the Predator Missile's rocket boosters, which greatly increases its speed. However, it loses almost all of its steering ability.
 * A common strategy is to pair the Predator Missile with a 6 or 7 killstreak reward in order to call in two killstreak rewards in a short window of time.
 * The Predator Missile can be used to destroy any type of enemy helicopter in a single hit. It can also do the same thing to Harriers. Although it cannot damage teammates' air support, it can destroy other air support called in by the same person that is controlling the missile.
 * A Predator Missile can easily kill many targets at once if it is called in during the very beginning of a round in a round-based gametype other than Search and Destroy, which has a seven second delay between the start of the round and when certain types of air support can be called in. This is one of the easiest ways to complete the "Grim Reaper" challenge which involves killing five enemies with one predator missile.
 * The Predator Missile's explosion kicks up quite a bit of smoke and dust, which can be used as visual cover. The Thermal Scope can see through this.
 * Enemies retrieving crates from Care Packages and Emergency Airdrops make for easy targets.
 * If the player is killed while controlling the Predator Missile, he can keep guiding the missile until it hits, and then respawn/wait to respawn accordingly. Unless you are playing Search and Destroy where if your killed while using the Predator Missile Then you will come straight out of the Laptop and It will just land where you were last aiming it.
 * The missile can be relatively difficult to guide on the multiplayer map Estate due to being fired at a slant. This means the missile can easily hit a tree (or other obstruction) before even hitting its target. Although with this in mind, it is also possible to get the missile inside the estate mansion possibly killing multiple enemies considering the mansion is the concentration point of the map.
 * Another useful tip is to use the Predator Missile in Hardcore Team Deathmatch. This can be an advantage because of the wave respawn delay, where all players that have died will spawn and roughly the same time. Right when you respawn, call in the Predator Missile and you should be able to see the enemy team respawning in one location. Guiding the missile to this point will pretty much guarantee a triple kill, or higher.

Avoiding the Predator

 * Avoid teammates and head for cover. Most players direct their missiles to the largest group of outdoor players.
 * Enemy missiles appear on the radar as large red circles, which can be used to help predict where the missile will land.
 * The missile cannot pierce buildings, but its splash damage can come through openings like doors or windows.
 * Cold-Blooded will not help much if its user is standing near teammates that are not using Cold-Blooded.
 * Watching the KillCam of an enemy Predator Missile can be used to find the enemy, who is marked by a green plus sign, and can even be used to find other enemies with keen enough observation. Additionally, the KillCam will briefly display the missile user's surroundings as the player closes the laptop.
 * Look into the sky to see where the Missile is coming from and where it is being directed. This can give you a hint where it is going to strike and gives you a chance to find cover or to run out of the blast radius.
 * Listen for what sounds like a very distant rifle shot if you can amongst all of the other ambient sounds. If you can hear it, this will give you a couple of seconds to dart for cover.

Trivia

 * In Multiplayer, the missile does not come from a Predator Drone, instead it appears to come from a white dot that appears temporarily in the sky.
 * It is possible to melee while you are taking out the laptop. While you are in control of the drone, you cannot melee.
 * The missile's model is the same as that of the Javelin missile.
 * The Predator Missile goes faster when the thrust is used in Singleplayer than in Multiplayer.
 * Occasionally the missile can hit the ground right next to someone and fail to kill them, not even causing damage. This is because there are sometimes small objects (bricks, crates, etc.) blocking the explosion from making contact with the enemy.
 * It is possible to guide the missile inside a building, if you have the angle and timing right.
 * The Hellfire's missile screen's crosshair is a simple cross in real life, not a rectangular box as used in the game. Infinity Ward probably reused the crosshair from the AC-130's 105mm howitzer.
 * Some players refer to the actual missile as the Predator, but in reality the UAV that fires the missile is the Predator, and the missile is a Hellfire AGM (Air-to-Ground Missile).
 * When the Hellfire Missile was being used in early Modern Warfare 2 videos, many people believed that the player was guiding PGMs (Smartbombs).
 * The laptop the player takes out to use the missile is actually a laptop used by AI rangers in the Modern Warfare 2 campaign mission "Of Their Own Accord" if you notice carefully. This laptop is also shown in controllable killstreaks such as Chopper Gunner and AC130, etc.
 * It is actually possible to make the Predator Missile fly completely horizontally if it hits a stealth bomber because it will bounce off of it.

Multiplayer

 * Emblem-Anim-predator-missile.gif Predator Missile emblem is unlocked by calling in 50 Predator Missiles.
 * It is the only player-controlled killstreak which cannot be shot down.
 * If a player is moving while they pull out the laptop, their angle and point of view on the missile will be severely skewed, making it nearly impossible to aim. It was previously believed that this was caused by random gusts of wind, but this is not the case.
 * It is possible to get a headshot with the Predator Missile.
 * It is possible to take out an enemy AC-130 with a Predator Missile, although the missile must spawn directly on top of the AC-130, which is extremely rare. The user can also slow down and look around for the orbiting aircraft, hone on it and cut the AC-130 killstreak short.
 * If an EMP is called in it will still be active but the player can't control it.
 * If a player on the ground is stunned while in control of the Predator Missile, their control of the missile will slow down as well, as if the missile itself was 'stunned'.
 * If timed right, when the missile is fired right before the game winning kill is scored, the player can still move and perform normal functions (shoot, knife, jump, etc...) in the Victory/Defeat Score screen.
 * The Predator missile is the best weapon for taking out killstreaks, because it can take out all killstreaks except for other Predators, Emergency Airdrops, Stealth Bombers, EMPs and Tactical Nukes, though the destruction of an AC-130 from the hands of a Predator Missile is an extremely rare occurrence.
 * If a player has the laptop in their hands, it is possible to melee another player by pressing the knife button. The player will swing the laptop to the right, similar to the knife melee attack, and is a one hit kill, but in 3rd person it shows the character doing a regular melee attack just like if he had a knife. In first person, it looks like the player swings the laptop to melee, rather than the knife, but the knife can actually be seen.
 * There is a glitch where if a player is killed as he opens the laptop, the missile camera will have no red boxes around enemies even if they are not using the Cold-Blooded perk, and the missile is very difficult to aim.
 * There is another glitch where the player respawns with the laptop flipped up. The crossairs are still up, and their primary weapon still fires. If you press the switch weapons button, you hold your primary weapon with one hand and the other one is still in the position it would be if you're using the laptop.
 * Another glitch can occur that makes the missile go up without control, as if the "up" stick was pressed. This makes it impossible to aim the missile, which ends up blowing up far outside the map.
 * If there is a Host migration during a Predator missile, the missile will be lost because it will not stop during the "Match restarts in" countdown, resulting in it reaching the ground and exploding without being able to kill enemies.
 * Based on unused sound files, there was going to be a warning if an enemy Predator missile was incoming.
 * If a player aims away from the map's playable area immediately upon taking control of the predator missile, it is possible to land the missile in a seemingly "bottomless" untextured pit outside of the map geometry. However, the missile detonates about thirty seconds after being launched. This is a creative way to "show off" in Search & Destroy if (1) you have a predator missile, (2) it is the last round of the game, and (3) you killed the last remaining enemy player quickly after he armed the bomb. The 45-second bomb countdown is long enough for the predator to automatically explode.
 * It has been revealed that the early development name for the Predator Missile was Hellfire.
 * If one hits a stealth bomber, the predator missile will bounce off, moving horizontally and will eventually be self detonated in mid-air, far away from the map.

Campaign

 * The missile does not have to score a direct hit to disable vehicles—it has a generous kill radius. It is possible to take out multiple vehicles with one missile if it impacts between them, such as both BTRs patrolling during "Wolverines!".
 * With luck and timing, you may see the enemy Stinger that disables your Predator.
 * In the mission "Contingency", if you take out the mobile SAM site before your first predator is destroyed, you will get your second predator much earlier (without prompting from Captain Price or anyone). This is useful if playing in Veteran since you can just take cover behind some houses and use the Predator to eliminate all hostiles.
 * While viewing through the missiles camera, the player is invisible, most likely because the player has no model.
 * In the mission "Wolverines!" the acquired Russian predator drone does not have to reload its Hellfire missiles. A missile can be launched as soon as the player opens the control rig.

In Reality

 * Real-life Predator Drones only carry two Hellfire missiles each. This contrasts with in-game Predator drones, which have infinite missiles in the Campaign and Special Ops modes, and only one in multiplayer.
 * The Predator used in Modern Warfare 2 is likely referring to the MQ-9 Reaper, which is a UAV drone suited for a hunter-killer role. Unlike its predecessor, the MQ-1 Predator, the Reaper has a much larger payload of up to 14 Hellfire missiles, with a larger focus on an unmanned ground strike role. The MQ-1 Predator plays more of a surveillance role in combat operations. Although the soldiers in-game refer to the drone as the Predator, it would likely be more accurate to refer to the UAV as the Reaper. The reason for this possible mistake, is that the basic shape of both vehicles are relatively the same. The Reaper was also once known as the "Predator B" before it was given its current name. This is likely the reason that the Predator Missile unlocks the "Grim Reaper" title.
 * The Hellfire is often referred to as an "AGM missile". This is redundant; AGM stands for "Air-to-Ground Missile".
 * Instead of a laptop to control the missiles, the soldier would have to 'splash' the target with a laser designator and via radio contact with an operator he would then fire the AGM's at the highlighted target.
 * Although the missile fired is called a "Predator Missile" by the soldiers in game, "Hellfire Missile" would be more accurate.

thumb|360px|left|A user-made montage on earning the Prestige emblem and title that comes with getting 1,000 total Predator Missile kills.