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Pentagon Drones Have Flown Twice the Flying Hours of Manned Aircraft

Frank Wolfe Frank Wolfe
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Pentagon Drones Have Flown Twice the Flying Hours of Manned Aircraft
A new CBO study compares the usage of three drones with six manned, ISR aircraft, including the pictured RC-26B. The former Trump administration came under criticism last year after Air National Guard RC-26Bs were used to surveil protests in Minnesota, Arizona, California, and Washington, D.C. --demonstrations that followed George Floyd’s death in police custody in May last year (U.S. Air Force Photo)

Pentagon unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have flown twice the flying hours of manned, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) planes flying missions comparable to those of the drones, per a new Congressional Budget Office analysis of three drones and six manned ISR aircraft. The study, Usage Patterns and Costs of Unmanned Aerial Systems, compares the usage of the U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper and the now retired MQ-1 Predator by General Atomics, and the Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk by Northrop…

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