Drones to Replace Human Squadron in Afghanistan?

The Air Force is touting the success of its newest armed drones flying over Afghanistan, saying that the the MQ-9 Reapers will even take over eventually for manned aircraft squadron, reports Defense Daily

As a sign of the Reapers' potential significance to the U.S. Air Force, Lt. Gen. Gary North, the Air Force's top general in the region, said last week, as more Air Force MQ-9s arrive, they will eventually supplant a U.S. squadron of manned attack aircraft. But he offered no timeline on when this will happen... [He's made similar promises before -- ed.]

The MQ-9 has got almost all of the tenets of a manned airplane currently deployed, with some advantages, said North. It can stay up longer on a sortie than a manned counterpart like the A-10 ground-attack aircraft or F-15E and F-16 fighter jets.

Further, it doesn't cost as much gas to fly them, the general said. And I have got the persistent stare capability.

However, it does not carry a gun like its manned counterparts, he said.

The Reaper's impact on the battlefield is frankly yet to be determined in a larger scale because the aircraft has only been in combat about six weeks, North said.

Yet this is already clear: "As an attack platform, it allows me to do several things, he said. "Number one, I can take and airplane out and fly it for up to 20 hours. I can range the battlespace at more than three times the speed of the Predator. I can carry six munitions on the airplane."

"The beauty of it is," he continued, "that when the weapons are gone, you can keep that airplane up for a long time and use it for that persistent stare."