Though achieving 65 combat air patrols of MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft was a worthy goal during the height of the Afghanistan war, Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mike Hostage said he wants out of the commitment. During a meeting with reporters on Sept. 17 at AFA’s 2013 Air and Space Conference, Hostage said he’s “trying to convince” the Pentagon leadership that “65 CAPs is not the force structure we need or can afford.” In an anti-access, area-denial environment, either airplane is “useless,” said Hostage, because they would be shot down promptly.
Sierra Nevada Corp. has acquired five ex-Korean Air 747-8 jumbo jets on which it will host the Survivable Airborne Operations Center. The jets will be transferred next year and will serve as the platforms for the SAOC, the $13 billion contract for which SNC won last month. The jets were…