The Air Force is on track to have 31 simultaneous combat air patrols of MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles available in December to combatant commanders in Southwest Asia, Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Peterson, USAF’s chief of warfighting integration and chief information officer since November 2005, told The Hill newspaper in an interview last week. “Our stated objective,” he said, “is to have 50 orbits available.” To reach that number, the Air Force plans to add in MQ-9 Reaper CAPS, he noted, since they “can carry more payload for [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance].”
Former AFCENT Commander Reflects on Lessons of Epic Fury
Sept. 13, 2026
Operation Epic Fury marked the U.S. military's largest air campaign in a generation, with strikes on 13,000 targets in Iran before the first in a series of shaky ceasefires began in April. Now, even as hostilities continue to flare up, Lt. Gen. Derek C. France sees several clear lessons that…
