Just last week, a senior Air Force official said the service had a total of 37 continual combat air patrols of remotely piloted vehicles supporting the fight in Southwest Asia. On Monday, service officials updated that total: it now stands at 39. This includes 31 MQ-1 Predator patrols, seven MQ-9 Reaper overhead orbits—up two from the five reported last week—and one RQ-4 Global Hawk CAP, they told the Daily Report. Also, the number of MC-12 Liberty aircraft that the Air Force is fielding to augment its information-gathering RPVs should grow to 37 by next July, up two from the 35 reported last week, they said. Currently the service is operating six MC-12s in the war theater.
In a pair of major contracts announced July 31, the Pentagon awarded a combined $7.8 billion for new missiles, including JASSM and AMRAAM.
