However, he added, the platform would remain “vital” to CENTCOM, particularly as the U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers in April that the MQ-9 “is not viable” in a high-end fight, including against some of the threats that could be posed by adversaries operating in CENTCOM’s area of responsibility in the near future. operations in the Middle East as head of U.S.
“It makes no sense to me to continue to buy stuff that isn’t in alignment with the. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers in a March 2020 hearing. “We are trying to divest ourselves of the ISR that is not particularly useful against a Russia or a China or even dense air defense systems of an Iran or a North Korea, and invest in those ISR systems that do have penetration capability,” Army Gen. The nation has made a great investment in the MQ-9, and if we throw that away, it’s just gone.”īut the Air Force argues it will be unable to develop the advanced unmanned capabilities it needs to contend with Chinese and Russian threats unless it pulls funding from legacy drones like the MQ-9, which defense officials say could not survive a conflict with a near-peer competitor. “You lose a lot of the economies and value that you built over time once you come to a stop. That’s not how production works,” he said. “You can’t just jump back in later because you got it wrong and suddenly turn on the tap again. The company’s biggest concern is that if the Air Force stops MQ-9 procurement rather than more gradually slowing down production, the service may find itself in a position in the late 2020s where it needs to buy more Reapers and cannot, Brinkley said. It’s a true ‘what if?’ scenario at this point,” he said. “There will be both short-term and long-term effects if the Air Force decides to stop buying MQ-9s in FY22, but I can’t predict with any certainty what those will be. Instead, service officials asked for about $172 million to begin shutting down General Atomics’ production line in Poway, California. In its FY21 budget request, the Air Force eliminated all funding to buy MQ-9 Reaper aircraft that year and in the future, effectively canceling plans to purchase 31 Reapers from FY21 through FY24. The latter group includes the combatant commanders who rely on the Reaper for surveillance, Air National Guard squadrons that operate the drone and can independently advocate for their own interests, MQ-9 manufacturer General Atomics, and lawmakers with MQ-9 units in their districts. If the Air Force presses forward with a second attempt to shut down the MQ-9 line, it could spark a fight between those who believe the Reaper is unfit for a near-peer fight - a group comprising the top Air Force brass and the service’s future planning organizations - and the large group of MQ-9 stakeholders and constituencies. The Defense Department is set to release its FY22 budget on May 28. A spokesperson for Rosen did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
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