New retirement timeframe for MQ-1 Predator

摘要

The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1 unmanned air vehicle will be put out to pasture by 2018, after more than two decades of service, the US Air Force says. The service has been planning to retire the MQ-1 ever since introducing the larger and more capable General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper in 2007, but the insatiable demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and target strikes in conflict zones around the world has kept the original Predator in service. Now, the air force has set 2018 as the end date for MQ-1 operations and says the aircraft will be moved to the "boneyard", but the ground control stations and other items will be repurposed to support the MQ-9.