{"id":136047,"date":"2021-05-26T20:25:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T20:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/26\/get-ready-for-another-fight-over-the-future-of-the-mq-9-reaper\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:13:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:13:53","slug":"get-ready-for-another-fight-over-the-future-of-the-mq-9-reaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/05\/26\/get-ready-for-another-fight-over-the-future-of-the-mq-9-reaper\/","title":{"rendered":"Get ready for another fight over the future of the MQ-9 Reaper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 A battle is brewing over the fate of the MQ-9 Reaper<\/a>, with a letter from the U.S. Air Force\u2019s top civilian signaling that the service will again seek to curtail procurement<\/a> of the General Atomics-made drone in the upcoming fiscal 2022 budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur current MQ-9 fleet is sufficient to support current and future operational and training requirements,\u201d acting Air Force Secretary John Roth wrote in a letter to Sen. Jacky Rosen dated April 1, which was recently viewed by Defense News. \u201cThere is no need to buy more aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosen \u2014 a Democrat whose home state of Nevada is home to Creech Air Force Base, where multiple active, reserve and Air National Guard squadrons fly MQ-9s \u2014 had written to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in March looking for assurances that the Air Force will continue to buy new Reaper drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roth, writing in Austin\u2019s stead, offered no such promises. Instead, he doubled down on the Air Force\u2019s plan to stop MQ-9 procurement and added that the service intends to outline its plan to replace the MQ-9 \u2014 a requirement set by the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLooking to the future force, the service does not intend to rely on exquisite, single platform, high-cost systems to replace the MQ-9. Instead, we will use a family of interconnected multi-role systems, engineered to reduce cost and increase interoperability,\u201d Roth said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for Rosen did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The Air Force also declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Defense Department is set to release its FY22 budget on May 28. If the Air Force presses forward with a second attempt to shut down the MQ-9 line, it could spark a fight between those who believe the Reaper is unfit for a near-peer fight \u2014 a group comprising the top Air Force brass and the service\u2019s future planning organizations \u2014 and the large group of MQ-9 stakeholders and constituencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter group includes the combatant commanders who rely on the Reaper for surveillance, Air National Guard squadrons that operate the drone and can independently advocate for their own interests, MQ-9 manufacturer General Atomics, and lawmakers with MQ-9 units in their districts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its FY21 budget request, the Air Force eliminated all funding to buy MQ-9 Reaper aircraft that year and in the future, effectively canceling plans to purchase 31 Reapers from FY21 through FY24. Instead, service officials asked for about $172 million to begin shutting down General Atomics\u2019 production line in Poway, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress rejected the Air Force\u2019s plan, setting aside $286 million in the budget to buy 16 more MQ-9 drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MQ-9 is one of the most prolific Air Force aircraft, currently operating out of 20 bases located in 17 states, according to the service\u2019s biennial acquisition report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a fleet of over 300 MQ-9s right now, and if you look at the life cycle of the MQ-9, we\u2019ve got 15-plus years left on them, and that\u2019s a good place to be,\u201d Lt. Gen. David Nahom, Air Force deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, said during the McAleese & Associates conference this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Air Force is successful in ending MQ-9 production, it is unclear what the industrial impact would be. General Atomics currently has a backlog of MQ-9 variants <\/a>that will sustain the production line through at least 2026, said C. Mark Brinkley, the director of strategic communications and marketing at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere will be both short-term and long-term effects if the Air Force decides to stop buying MQ-9s in FY22, but I can\u2019t predict with any certainty what those will be. It\u2019s a true \u2018what if?\u2019 scenario at this point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company\u2019s biggest concern is that if the Air Force stops MQ-9 procurement rather than more gradually slowing down production, the service may find itself in a position in the late 2020s where it needs to buy more Reapers and cannot, Brinkley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just jump back in later because you got it wrong and suddenly turn on the tap again. That\u2019s not how production works,\u201d he said. \u201cYou lose a lot of the economies and value that you built over time once you come to a stop. The nation has made a great investment in the MQ-9, and if we throw that away, it\u2019s just gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Air Force argues it will be unable to develop the advanced unmanned capabilities it needs to contend with Chinese and Russian threats unless it pulls funding from legacy drones like the MQ-9, which defense officials say could not survive a conflict with a near-peer competitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are trying to divest ourselves of the ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] that is not particularly useful against a Russia or a China or even [the] dense air defense systems of an Iran or a North Korea, and invest in those ISR systems that do have penetration capability,\u201d Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers in a March 2020 hearing. \u201cIt makes no sense to me to continue to buy stuff that isn\u2019t in alignment with the [National Defense Strategy].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who oversees U.S. operations in the Middle East as head of U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers in April that the MQ-9 \u201cis not viable\u201d in a high-end fight, including against some of the threats that could be posed by adversaries operating in CENTCOM\u2019s area of responsibility in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he added, the platform would remain \u201cvital\u201d to CENTCOM, particularly as the U.S. military pulls ground forces from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur ability to maintain persistent overhead coverage will possibly require additional MQ-9s because of the range from the base to the place where we will actually be looking,\u201d he said. \u201cWe may even need more of them in Central Command dedicated to that particular task.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A future for the MQ-9?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the run up to the FY22 budget release, a number of lawmakers have questioned defense officials about the capability of the MQ-9 and the overall need for more ISR platforms, including: Rosen; Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Rep. Kenneth Calvert, R-Calif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other lawmakers, like Republican Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, have taken a more direct approach. A member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, he spoke directly with Roth to advocate for MQ-9 procurement in the FY22 budget, his office stated in a May 24 news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank Kendall, the Biden administration\u2019s nominee for Air Force secretary, told lawmakers during his May 25 confirmation hearing that he\u2019d be open to funding additional upgrades for the MQ-9 that would make it more survivable in a non-permissive environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know that some things have been talked about, including adding more countermeasures to the aircraft and providing some standoff capability. And I think those are well worth looking at,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve made a big investment in that platform, and it would be a shame to not be able to utilize it against more significant sophisticated threats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of those upgrades could look similar to the \u201cGhost Reaper\u201d configuration the service tested as part of this month\u2019s Northern Edge exercise held in Alaska. Over a period of several weeks at Eielson Air Force Base, the service assessed the performance of several new pods for the MQ-9, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n