I'd be very surprised if we didn't end up buying more Reapers (apparently the name is now official). Notwithstanding the lack of organic 'back room' support in the deal, I can envisage the MQ-9 making a significant contribution to the UK slice of current ops (and I'm not just saying that 'cos I may be going out there to fly them in the near future......)
The sensors will feed into the overall picture in the same way any other 'sensor' does nowadays - the NEC concept and the nature of joint ops means we can 'do our bit' without our own private CAOC to feed the picture. Bear in mind that Reaper carries about 1/3 of a Harrier weapon load, but has over 10 times the endurance...I think we'll find them SO useful we'll be falling over ourselves in 2-3 yrs time to aquire a whole bunch of them - although we will most definitely have to retain some current assets (or aquire replacements) for certain types of tasking.
Incidentally, they also have a (theoretical) air-air capability....the end for ALL fast jets?
Discuss. (note the
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