For more than two decades, the MQ-9 Reaper was the undisputed king of the skies. Capable of staying in flight for more than a day, traveling thousands of kilometers, monitoring targets with high-resolution cameras and launching Hellfire missiles with surgical precision. Was, since its first flight in 2001, one of the symbols of American military superiority. But even legends end up getting old.
The Pentagon has just begun the search for a successor that breaks with almost everything the Reaper represented. The objective is no longer to manufacture the most sophisticated drone in the world, but rather one that is much simpler, modular and, above all, much cheaper. The problem with the Reaper is that it’s too good. In conflicts like Afghanistan or Iraq, where the enemy barely had advanced air defenses, it was an almost perfect platform. But the world (and war) has changed.
Modern air defense systems, electronic warfare and long-range missiles make a large, relatively slow and easily detectable drone a much more vulnerable target today. The recent conflicts have left a very clear lesson: Losing a system worth tens of millions of dollars (a Reaper costs about 30 million) is no longer so profitable.
This is how the Military Innovation Unit has published the Massed Modular Aircraft program. Instead of designing a single device for all missions, the new devices will be modular. Its basic fuselage can remain practically the same, while sensors, cameras, radars, electronic systems or weapons can be exchanged depending on the mission.
“Modular mass production aircraft (MMA) must retain the ability to be equipped with various payloads, including full motion video (FMV) sensors, to execute the missions currently carried out by the MQ-9a – says the official statement regarding the characteristics that the new drone must have -. Among the main attributes sought, they include designed for affordable and high production manufacturing. Sufficient ammunition and sensor payload capacity: at least 1270 kg. Combat radius without refueling of at least 3200 kmwith payload and unidirectional self-deployment capacity of at least 1320 km. And actual airspeed of at least 370 km/h.”
Although at no time has a specific figure been mentioned, the Pentagon points out that must be notably lower than the cost of the Reaper, so much so that “so that its loss is acceptable. Is this the end of an era? This doesn’t mean the MQ-9 Reaper is going away immediately. It will continue to serve at least until 2030, but its missions will be much more specific and controlled than before.