A Block 5 MQ-9 Reaper in Afghanistan with the external fuel tank for extended range. USAF
The Warzone/The Drive: The USAF Expands MQ-9 Reaper Drone Force in Afghanistan to Its Largest Size Ever
The air war over Afghanistan is rapidly heating up and a huge deployment of Reapers drones is the latest major development.
The U.S. Air Force says its force of MQ-9 Reapers at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan is now the largest deployment of the type to a single base ever. The drones are part of a larger surge in the air war over the country, which could still include yet more unmanned aircraft in the near future as other services, such as the U.S. Navy, consider their own unmanned contributions.
The Air Force says there are now nearly three squadrons worth of Reapers at Kandahar, though it declined to give specific numbers, according to a report by Stars and Stripes on Jan. 26, 2018. The size and scope of American presence there had steadily shrunk since the NATO-led coalition officially ended combat operations in 2014. It has begun to grow again as the United States has reinvigorated its efforts against the Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS, and other militant groups in the country, deploying additional ground forces, including elements of the U.S. Army’s first ever dedicated advisory unit, the 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade, or 1st SFAB.
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WNU Editor: Drones are not the only air asset that is being deployed to Afghanistan .... The A-10 Is Back Over Afghanistan (Popular Mechanics). Here is an easy prediction. In 2017 the U.S. dropped 4,300 bombs in Afghanistan .... Exporting the Surge: Trump Doubles US Afghan Bombing Over Two Previous Years (Sputnik). That number is going to pale to the number of bombs that will be dropped this year.
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