An MQ-9 Reaper with three Ghost Reaper pods attached awaits takeoff at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, N.Y. on April 14. The Air National Guard's Ghost Reaper concept is to make the MQ-9A Block 5 a central node for the Advanced Battle Management System. The three Ghost Reaper pods are the Northrop Grumman Freedom pod, the General Atomics' Centerline Avionics Bay, and the
Ultra Electronics' Rosetta Echo Advanced Payloads (REAP) pod (U.S. Air National Guard Photo)
Also In This Issue:
While the U.S. Air Force requested no funding for General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drones in fiscal 2022, the House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel’s (HAC-D) version of the FY 2022 Defense Appropriations Bill adds six Reapers for the service.
Overall,…