A top U.S. Air Force officer has said his service branch and the U.S. Army need unmanned aerial vehicles dedicated to their unique mission sets in the future, Air Force Times reported Sunday.Gen. Herbert Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, told reporters following a Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee hearing that the training and procedures are similar for the Army’s MQ-1C Gray Eagle and the Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper but actual training on the systems are different, Phillip Swarts reports.
“I think the similarities and the cross talk is going to continue but we kind of have different mission sets, so we can design systems for those mission sets,†Carlisle told Air Force Times.
Carlisle said the Gray Eagle and MQ-1 Predator have close similarities in terms of operation and added the MQ-1 Predator will be retired in 2016 and 2017, Air Force Times reports.
Swarts writes a report from the Government Accountability Office on collaboration between military services for unmanned platform training formed the basis for senators’ questions.
