MQ-9 Reaper Drones Set to Fly into 2030 with Million Dollar Upgrades

Video Above: Air Force Doubles Attack Firepower of Reaper Drone

By Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

(Washington, D.C.) The Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone will live to fight another day, or thousands of days, due to a clear service plan to employ the platform for at least the next 15 years.

While not surprising given the number of upgrades the Air Force has performed on the drone, yet there is ongoing speculation amid development of the service’s high-priority MQ-Next program which seeks to deploy a new generation of warfare ISR.

“We’re not procuring any more MQ-9s in FY22, but we’re also not looking to shutdown the production line. In fact, we have modernization efforts that are tied to the MQ-9 in the ’22 budget,” Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget Maj. Gen. James D. Peccia told reporters, according to a Pentagon transcript.

Peccia said the service was allocating $200 million for continued Reaper upgrades and modification in the 2022 budget request.

Questions about the future of the Reaper speak to an interesting broader strategic issue being contemplated by the Air Force, regarding how to adapt larger high-altitude, long-endurance armed surveillance drones for high-end warfare against a technically sophisticated major power adversary. Can they be adapted? Certainly numerous efforts with the Reaper have moved in this direction, to include the addition of new fuel tanks for added endurance and dwell time, a massive expansion in weapons capability to even include air-to-air weapons and a new generation of long-range, high-fidelity sensors.