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<\/p>\nThe U.S. Air Force\u2019s MQ-9 Reaper fleet has fallen to roughly 135 aircraft as combat attrition from Operation Epic Fury cuts into the service\u2019s most heavily used remotely piloted asset, the deputy chief of staff for plans and programs told senators Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Lt. Gen. David Tabor told the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Airland that the fleet is \u201cstill able to fulfill our contract of 56 combat lines worldwide\u201d despite the losses, and the service is seeking to backfill the inventory and field a cheaper, more expendable replacement. The 56 combat lines represent the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance orbits the Air Force maintains around the clock for combatant commanders worldwide.<\/p>\n
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., opened questioning at the Senate hearing by citing the long-standing 189-aircraft floor, leaving the current fleet roughly 54 aircraft short. He asked what the Air Force plans to do as the platform takes losses in the Middle East while remaining in heavy demand across other combatant commands. <\/p>\n
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Tabor did not address the 189 figure directly but noted that attrition has \u201creally demonstrated the value of the MQ-9.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are concerned about how they\u2019ve attrited, and we\u2019re looking at options to buy back as many of the MQ-9As as we possibly can right now,\u201d Tabor said. The Air Force is working with the Department of Defense to fund the buyback this fiscal year, he said. <\/p>\n
The longer-term work, Tabor said, falls to A5\/7, the Air Force\u2019s strategy, integration and requirements directorate. He turned the question over to Maj. Gen. Christopher Niemi, military deputy for Air Force Futures and the White House\u2019s nominee to serve as the service\u2019s first chief modernization officer.<\/p>\n
Niemi confirmed that he signed off on a requirements document for the next-generation platform on May 11, framing the successor as a deliberate departure from the Reaper platform, designed from the outset for the kind of contested airspace that resulted in the Epic Fury losses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe what is possible is to take advantage of modern manufacturing technologies so that we could buy something that is more flexible, lends itself more to open architecture, is more easily [produced] in mass numbers,\u201d Niemi said. \u201dAnd then ultimately you could use [it] in a more attritable way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cost driver, Niemi said, is the Reaper\u2019s sensor suite. A current MQ-9 with a full sensor package can run \u201cup to $50 million a copy,\u201d he said. A modular successor would allow the Air Force to strip out high-end packages for operation in high-threat environments, driving the price down to a point where losing one, or many, is operationally and financially feasible.<\/p>\n
Lt. Gen. Luke Cropsey, military deputy for Air Force acquisition, said the service\u2019s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and special operations acquisition team issued a request for information about a month ago. More than 50 companies responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a burgeoning interest across the broader defense industrial base on what comes next,\u201d Cropsey said.<\/p>\n