According to Tom Cassidy, head of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, the Air Force has 14 of the company’s MQ-9 Predator B unmanned aerial vehicles under contract. Cassidy told us at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium last week that GAAS could accelerate production—averaging one aircraft every month and delivering a new one to the Air Force every two to three months—if the service wants them that fast. However, the Fiscal 2007 budget would only fund delivery of two of these newer, larger, and more capable UAVs. The B model features an improved sensor suite and the ability to carry up to 16 hellfire missiles (the same capacity as an AH-64 attack helicopter) as well as GBU-12s and -38s.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.