US Air Force Plans 10 New UAS Squadrons

The US Air Force plans to establish three new active duty MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper UAS squadrons this year, along with six new Air National Guard units, and one Air Force Reserve squadron, said Col. James Gear, head of the service’s UAS task force speaking at a recent  industry conference in Washington, D.C.

The Air Force is rapidly building up its UAS fleet, with the goal of having enough airframes, trained personnel, and supporting infrastructure on hand in Fiscal 2013 to support 65 simultaneous combat air patrols. By the end of this year, USAF officials have said about 50 CAPs should be in place.

 The Air Force’s fleet of MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft is on track to reach one million combat flight hours in March—a feat 14 years in the making. However, the growth in UAS combat air patrols is happening at such an astounding rate that it should only take another two and half years to reach the two-million-hour mark, said Col. Gear,

 “When I started this business in 2003 to 2005, we were planning on how to get to 24 CAPS in 2010. We really didn’t think we could do that,” said Gear, who acknowledged that the Air Force had grossly underestimated demand. The Air Force now expects to reach 65 combined Reaper and Predator CAPs and four RQ-4 Global Hawk RPA CAPs in 2013, he said.