Air Force Explores Future Attack Drones After Reaper

Video Above:64. Navy Connects Air, Surface, Underseas Drones

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

The Air Force is exploring so many interesting options when it comes to finding and deploying a replacement for its MQ-9 Reaper drone, that it is planning to take its time.

The service is running an interesting program called “MQ-Next” which is now immersed in a world of technological exploration and the “realm of the possible” to determine what future drones used to perform Reaper-like missions will look like. They may quite likely be smaller, stealthier, more lethal and even operate in swarms to blanked areas with surveillance with a smaller footprint to improve survivability.

2031 Deadline

As it pursues this developmental trajectory, the service is taking great comfort in the fact that its ongoing innovations are gaining extra support, traction and funding by virtue of having time to work with. The MQ-Next does not need to be operational until 2031, meaning the service can take the time it needs to identify and develop the best possible next-generation drones for the 2030s and beyond.

“We have 300 platforms (Reapers) to go into the middle 2030s, so we have time to proceed smartly and look at different systems,” Lt. Gen. David Nahom, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Plans & Programs, told the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in an interview.

Manned-Unmanned Teaming

One fundamental area of developmental emphasis, Nahom said, was the ongoing focus on networking, meaning manned-unmanned teaming, multi-platform drone connectivity and even unmanned-unmanned or “drone-to-drone” kinds of synergies.