In a story a character is speaking about a particular RQ-9 RPA (Remotely Piloted Aircraft) {aka "drone"}.
Sergeant Jones said, "we shouldn't be risking our only R Q Nine, unless it is urgent."
Should there be a separation between the R and the Q? Should the Nine be capitalized? Being a Specific aircraft, I believe it is a proper noun? Seeking advice from other authors
In dialogue you write it the same as it's said. How you've written this in the narrative of the first line and the dialogue of the second line is perfectly correct - except you forgot to capitalize the first word of the dialogue. The only thing is that in my experience many military people would have used phonetic alphabet out of habit, if they did, it would be:
Sergeant Jones said, "We shouldn't be risking our only Romeo Quebec Nine, unless it is urgent."
Excellent points Ernest! Thank you.
I just got a Proofreader for my main story, and we were having a discussion about this. I will implement you suggestion.
If he's going to start with contractions, finish with contractions. While Ernest is correct that if he's using the proper numbers for it (which, by the way, is the MQ-9 Predator) he'd probably use the phonetic alphabet, in my experience, he's going to call it by the nickname.
Sergeant Jones said, "We shouldn't be risking our only Reaper unless it's urgent."
About the only time anyone DIDN'T use the nickname is for the Flying Crane, which officially is the CH-54 Tarhe. You had Apache, Cobra, Chinook, even the Huey. And then there's the Tarhe. No one knows that it's an Indian name meaning Crane.
Also, nobody calls their rifle a Mike Four or that they're carrying a Sierra Alpha Whiskey. I've got an M4 and a SAW. For damn sure if you're actually in something vaguely resembling an actual combat situation, you're going to use the common language of either Predator or Reaper, instead of RQ1 or MQ9. (Note that when I'm writing military nomenclature, I simply use M113 APC, or T72 MBT, even in conversation. I run into this discussion frequently. If you're writing conversation, people do NOT talk grammatically correct.)
The Wyandot people/Huron are not very well known outside of Ohio Valley/lake Ontario/Oklahoma reservation areas. Much less the Chief with that nickname or why he was called it.
https://www.ga-asi.com/remotely-piloted-aircraft/mq-9a
I would suggest going with the manufacturers designation/spelling.
"we shouldn't be risking our only R Q Nine, unless it is urgent."
It should be "RQ-9."
