The Air Force will retire the MQ-1 Predator fleet in 2018, consolidating to the MQ-9 Reaper for remotely piloted armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. “Today, MQ-1s and MQ-9s have collectively flown 2.4 million hours and currently the Air Force is flying 61 combat sorties per day in support of combat operations worldwide,” MQ-9 Branch Chief Maj. Jason Willey said, speaking at ASC15 on Monday. MQ-1s have been the “bedrock of the Air Force medium-altitude RPA program” since going into combat in 1995 over the Balkans, he said. “Retirement does not mean scaling back, however, as we are currently in the process of transitioning MQ-1 sorties to an all MQ-9 force by 2018,” Willey explained. The Air Force is developing and testing extended endurance versions of the Reaper and is evaluating automatic takeoff and landing systems since “the MQ-9 program is expected to operate for at least the next 20 years,” he said.
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…