# AFRICOM, CENTCOM seeks continued operation of MQ-9  drones

- Link: https://www.military.africa/2020/03/africom-centcom-seeks-continued-operation-of-mq-9-drones/
- Published: 2020-03-12T04:20:31+01:00
- Author: Ekene Lionel

As efforts to build the next United States Air Force next generation of unmanned
aircraft, as well as to scale down the use of “low-end fight” aircrafts, pressures
are mounting to trim off some corners.

As part of its fiscal 2021 budget request, the USAF intends to cut MQ-9 Reaper production
after buying just 24 units in 2021, -thereby cutting the total buy to 337 aircraft,
and also ending some air patrols in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and
shutting down the production line. A move which top military officials believe could
negatively impact the ability to conduct operations and provide enough overwatch
in hotspots in these regions.

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Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told
the House Armed Services Committee that CENTCOM still has a “genuine requirement”
for the reaper in its counter-terror operations and most importantly, keeping an
eye on Iran’s activities on the Strait of Hormuz.

McKenzie noted that, even though drones are now vulnerable to the increasing sophisticated
Iranian air defense systems, however, the intelligence gathering capability of the
Reaper drone is still essential today more than ever.

“We would like to see if there’s a way to keep those in theater and continue to 
use them,” McKenzie said referring to the MQ-9s.

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Still on the issue, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Commander Army Gen. Stephen Townsend
told the committee that while the Air Force’s needed to have assets for a high-end
fight, “the lower-end stuff works really well for us in AFRICOM and CENTCOM.”

Will Roper, Air Forces’s acquisition boss told the members of the House Armed Services
tactical air and land forces subcommittee on March 10 that although the Reaper has
been a great platform the United States, however, “we just can’t take them into 
the battlefield. They’re easily shot down, Especially now that the US is looking
towards “high-end fights.”

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According to Roper, “there are things that are more high-end, military-unique things
that are meant to be able to survive even in a contested environment. Obviously 
a lot of technology will have to go in and they’ll be likely expensive systems.”.

Additionally, Sixteenth Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, who oversees
ISR forces, noted that ISR assets are still in high demand, and different commanders
around the world need that surveillance capability more than others.

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