By Marina Malenic
The Air Force will likely maintain a mixed fleet of large drones, despite service documents indicating a plan to eventually replace all of its MQ-1 Predator aircraft with the newer, larger MQ-9 Reaper, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer said last week.
“I think they’ll end up with a force mix,” John Young, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said during an Oct. 30 Pentagon briefing.
“To stop buying [Predators] and to transition completely to Reapers, which take longer to build, is inconsistent with [Defense Secretary Robert Gates’] goals to get the maximum amount of [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capability out there as fast as possible,” he added. “Those are the kinds of decisions you’re going to see me make.”
The Air Force’s latest six-year spending outline, drafted this summer, details plans to increase Reaper purchases and to begin replacing Predators with the larger platform in about three years.
“The Air Force will procure its last MQ-1 platforms in FY ’09 with expected delivery in FY ’10,” the document reads. “The Air Force will begin drawing down MQ-1 platforms starting in FY ’12.”
Top Air Force officials have recently spoken about plans to equip the Reaper with an elaborate Wide-Area Airborne Surveillance sensor (WAAS) to provide full-mtion video with multiple sub-views (Defense Daily, Sept. 25). The Reaper can also reach higher altitudes than the Predator.
Young, however, said that he and other top DoD officials still see great utility in the smaller platform.
“I think some of the initial Air Force thinking here doesn’t countenance the fact that there are things you can do from low altitudes, where the Predator is far more effective than the Reaper,” he explained.
Young said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz is examining the issue “with an open mind.”
Schwartz and other top service leaders are scheduled to receive a briefing next month from a Gates-appointed task force that is examining the acquisition and fielding of unmanned aerial systems.
“The UAS task force will brief the chief and the secretary next month,” an Air Force official tells Defense Daily. “Decisions on fleet mix will likely follow that discussion.”
In the mean time, Young is adamant that the air service will not part with its Predators any time soon.
“The idea that initially came across, that [the Air Force] will move to an all-Reaper force and we’ll throw…a billion dollars worth of Predators that we just bought into the trash was ridiculous,” Young added. “And it is even more ridiculous in the light that I don’t know how many orbits it will take to satisfy the demand out there, which is exactly how Secretary Gates comes at this problem.”
Gates approved billions of dollars worth of new spending on ISR capabilities this summer (Defense Daily, Aug. 11). That package was the result of recommendations made by a task force Gates established to expedite fielding of new ISR systems.
Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted earlier in the summer that the Pentagon did not move quickly enough in developing ISR capabilities before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (Defense Daily, June 24). Gates created the task force in April to address the deficiencies.
Young did concede that the Air Force may be better off procuring a few more Predators before they converge on a common solution with the Army, which is already buying the next- generation Warrior platform.
“I’m going to need to give some ground here because Predators can be built for sure and sooner, so I think the Air Force will buy a few more,” he said. “But then we can transition them to buying, common with the Army [Warriors], for replenishment because we do lose some of these vehicles over time.”
Young added that, regardless of the specific platform mix the Air Force ends up with, speed of procurement and fielding will be the emphasis.
“I think the dominant factor here needs to be…to get more ISR capability as fast as we can,” he said.