While the Air Force continues building toward 65 combat air patrols of MQ-1/MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft—currently there are 62—the head of the service’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance enterprise believes that this force already should evolve. “We have a force that has grown up in permissive environments,” Lt. Gen. Robert Otto, the Air Staff’s ISR chief, told attendees on Tuesday at AFA’s 2013 Air and Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. While the current fleet has performed well, there has been an over-investment in “permissive ISR assets,” said Otto, who sees the need for a more balanced ISR fleet to also support operations in contested airspace. The Air Force’s forthcoming “RPA Vector” document will provide much more detail as to the service’s direction for seeking these capabilities, he said.
The Pentagon has concluded a new agreement to buy laser-guidance kits that turn rockets into drone-killing weapons. BAE Systems and the Defense Department announced a framework deal of up to seven years for 25,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guidance kits annually for the U.S. military.