The Pentagon plans to increase its fleet of armed and long-haul surveillance drones by at least 45 percent over the next 10 years.
The U.S. military’s inventory of unmanned aerial vehicles, will grow to 645 aircraft in fiscal 2022 from about 445 in fiscal 2013, including versions of Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC)’s RQ-4 Global Hawk and General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1 Predators, the Defense Department said in a report required by Congress on its aviation blueprint for the next 30 years.
In addition, the U.S. Army wants to buy 164 Gray Eagle drones from closely held General Atomics of San Diego from 2013 to 2022 “in direct support of ground forces,” the Pentagon said in the report obtained today.
Drones are playing an increasing role as the Pentagon seeks a force that will be “smaller and leaner” and more technologically advanced, as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta put it when he introduced a revamped national security strategy in January. Even as the inventory of drones grows, the U.S. military is buying fewer than originally planned because of reduced budgets, a defense official told lawmakers.
“The military departments adjusted their plans to comply with a constrained top line by procuring fewer aircraft than desired,” Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter wrote in a letter to the leaders of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee on April 4.
