Aerospace/ There is no shortage of combat drones but lack of educated and trained new personnel

The US Air Force has not adequately justified the purchase of 46 additional armed Reaper drones, according to the Pentagon’s inspector general. The expanded fleet could equal a waste of $8.8 billion, the watchdog said.

“We determined the Air Force's Air Combat Command MQ-9 Requirements Branch did not demonstrate the need for the MQ-9 planned procurement quantities,” the Pentagon inspector general said in a declassified September report obtained by The Guardian through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“As a result, the Air Force risks spending approximately $8.8 billion to purchase, operate, and maintain 46 MQ-9 aircraft it may not need.”

The Air Force has built up an armed MQ-9 Reaper fleet that numbers 401 – up from 60 in 2007. In that time, the cost of purchasing drones has hit more than $11.4 billion, according to the Pentagon’s report, meaning several tens of billions of dollars more in maintenance and operational costs.

 Air Force expanded drone fleet to unjustifiable level – Pentagon watchdog