“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.
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