{"id":19467,"date":"2021-07-21T20:23:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T20:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:19:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:19:01","slug":"to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/","title":{"rendered":"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 As the U.S. Air Force restructures its aircraft inventory to compete with China, the service is taking calculated risks in its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft portfolio, a top general said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/budget\/2021\/05\/28\/us-air-force-to-mothball-dozens-of-a-10s-f-15s-and-f-16s-in-fy22-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\">fiscal 2022 budget request<\/a>, the Air Force proposed mothballing four of its 16<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2018\/02\/10\/air-force-to-kill-jstars-recap-program-for-new-battlefield-management-plane\/\" target=\"_blank\"> E-8 JSTARS aircraft<\/a>, which are used for ground surveillance and targeting, as well as 20 Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 surveillance drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while the service doesn\u2019t plan to divest any of its<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2021\/05\/26\/get-ready-for-another-fight-over-the-future-of-the-mq-9-reaper\/\" target=\"_blank\"> General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper<\/a> drones used for collecting intelligence and attacking targets, it does plan to lower the number of MQ-9 patrols in FY22 as the U.S. military withdraws from Afghanistan, said Lt. Gen. David Nahom, the deputy chief of staff for plans and programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI do believe though that reduction in the combat lines, because of our reduction of our presence in the Middle East, is appropriate,\u201d Nahom told members of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee. \u201cNow we\u2019ll have the opportunity to look at those platforms differently and use them differently in competition, and in some of these places around the world with less contested environments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service plans to drop from 60 combat lines to 56 in FY22, Air Force spokeswoman Rose Riley told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, it will retain all MQ-9 aircraft \u2014 which number in excess of 300 air vehicles \u2014 and the manpower associated with MQ-9 crews will stay at current levels, Nahom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the Reaper and the Block 30 Global Hawks are relevant for today\u2019s missions, they are not optimized to survive a fight against a near peer adversary like China, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe three things that are most important [are] an ISR platform that can survive in the threat, persist in the threat, and then be connected. And the Global Hawk &#8230; it was not designed with the threat we\u2019re looking at right now from a resurgent China,\u201d Nahom said. \u201cWe have to look to the future, and that\u2019s where that risk with the combatant commanders comes in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the remaining Block 40 Global Hawks will be \u201cvery critical\u201d to the Air Force over the next six to eight years, to fill a gap conducting ground surveillance as aging E-8C JSTARS aircraft become less reliable, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republican Sen. John Hoeven pressed Nahom to provide more details on the aircraft that will eventually replace the Global Hawk and Reaper. A senator from North Dakota, Hoeven represents Grand Forks Air Force Base, where a squadron of U.S. Customs and Border Protection MQ-9s and Air Force RQ-4s operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force intends to field a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/air-force-association\/2020\/09\/17\/defense-companies-are-lining-up-to-build-a-replacement-for-the-mq-9-reaper\/\" target=\"_blank\"> \u201cfamily of systems\u201d <\/a>to replace some of its legacy ISR capabilities, Nahom said, but he declined to reveal further information in an unclassified setting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Air Force plans to drop from 60 to 56 MQ-9 Reaper combat lines in fiscal 2022 as the U.S. military decreases its presence in the Middle East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":59004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":41,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,106,29,41,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3188],"class_list":["post-19467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battlefield-tech","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-isr","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZE53LNDCNNBAVDX4O2YIHPHGKY","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory - C4ISRNet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Air Force plans to drop from 60 to 56 MQ-9 Reaper combat lines in fiscal 2022 as the U.S. military decreases its presence in the Middle East.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Air Force plans to drop from 60 to 56 MQ-9 Reaper combat lines in fiscal 2022 as the U.S. military decreases its presence in the Middle East.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"C4ISRNet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-21T20:23:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T22:19:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Valerie Insinna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Valerie Insinna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-07-21T20:23:10+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:19:01+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 472,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Reaper.jpg_2223dd.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Battlefield Tech\",\n\t                \"Daily Brief\",\n\t                \"Home\",\n\t                \"ISR\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory - C4ISRNet\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Reaper.jpg_2223dd.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-07-21T20:23:10+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:19:01+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"The Air Force plans to drop from 60 to 56 MQ-9 Reaper combat lines in fiscal 2022 as the U.S. military decreases its presence in the Middle East.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Reaper.jpg_2223dd.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Reaper.jpg_2223dd.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/21\\\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"ISR\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/intel-geoint\\\/isr\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"isr\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"C4ISRNet\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Media for the Intelligence-Age Military | C4ISRNET\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"C4ISRNet\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c4isrnet-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c4isrnet-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"C4ISRNet\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory - C4ISRNet","description":"The Air Force plans to drop from 60 to 56 MQ-9 Reaper combat lines in fiscal 2022 as the U.S. military decreases its presence in the Middle East.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory","og_description":"The Air Force plans to drop from 60 to 56 MQ-9 Reaper combat lines in fiscal 2022 as the U.S. military decreases its presence in the Middle East.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/","og_site_name":"C4ISRNet","article_published_time":"2021-07-21T20:23:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-07T22:19:01+00:00","author":"Valerie Insinna","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Valerie Insinna","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory","datePublished":"2021-07-21T20:23:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T22:19:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/"},"wordCount":472,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Reaper.jpg_2223dd.jpg","articleSection":["Battlefield Tech","Daily Brief","Home","ISR","Newsletters"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/","name":"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory - C4ISRNet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Reaper.jpg_2223dd.jpg","datePublished":"2021-07-21T20:23:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T22:19:01+00:00","description":"The Air Force plans to drop from 60 to 56 MQ-9 Reaper combat lines in fiscal 2022 as the U.S. military decreases its presence in the Middle East.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Reaper.jpg_2223dd.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Reaper.jpg_2223dd.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/2021\/07\/21\/to-afford-next-gen-combat-aircraft-the-us-air-force-will-make-cuts-to-current-isr-inventory\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ISR","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/isr\/","ad_zone":"isr"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"To afford next-gen combat aircraft, the US Air Force will make cuts to ISR inventory"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/","name":"C4ISRNet","description":"Media for the Intelligence-Age Military | C4ISRNET","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#organization","name":"C4ISRNet","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c4isrnet-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c4isrnet-logo-white.png","caption":"C4ISRNet"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"C4ISRNet","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Reaper.jpg_2223dd.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19468,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19467\/revisions\/19468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19467"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=19467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}