Pat Dollard | Young Americans

And a few guys in Nevada actually do much of the flying and overwatch above Iraq, through drones they literally fly from half a world away…and it’s looking like the Reaper is going to be talking on historically large duties for keeping the peace in an entire nation…

Agencie France Pusse:

The US Air Force may turn increasingly to a new armed drone, the MQ-9 Reaper, to help keep the peace in Iraq once the conflict shrinks in scale and US ground troops go home, a top US commander says.

The arrival of the Reaper in Iraq comes just as the war there appears to be winding down.

But North indicated that it and other drones will be an important element in plans for a changing, but vital air force role in maintaining Iraq’s security, especially in the event of attacks launched by Iran or Syria.

Even with the diminishing violence and the prospect of fewer US troops on the ground, the air force will have major missions in Iraq for a long time to come. Iraq’s airforce is not even a shadow of its former self.

The U.S. airforce moves people and materiel; flies intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions; provides “armed overwatch” and close air support for coalition and Iraqi forces; protects Iraq’s borders; and is helping to build a new Iraqi air force.

However, North said he is making plans to “right size” air force operations in Iraq as conditions change.

“There are periods where we’ve gone a week to ten days without having to release a single kinetic attack, and that is a real success story,” he said, referring to bombing enemy targets.

“Will we need to have manned kinetic capability to respond either with overhead or ground alert? The answer is yes, for a period of time,” he said.

But North said as the scale of the conflict is reduced he was be able to use “more and more of these (drones), and reduce the manned fighters and bombers overhead.”

Lieutenant General Gary North, the commander of US air forces in the Middle East, said he is examining options for when and where he can replace manned fighter and bomber aircraft with armed drones.

“Today we are in an environment where we may not need the large number or persistence of manned aircraft,” he said in an interview by telephone Friday with AFP from a base in the region.

“We can put unmanned aircraft — Predator, Reaper, and other assets — overhead for long endurance periods. We call that persistent stare.

“And with the Reaper, armed with Hellfire and 500-pound precision weapons, we’ll be able to have a deadly stare if needed,” he said.

The Reaper was deployed in Iraq for the first time July 17 from Balad Air Base, and has been flying in Afghanistan since September.

“We have turned a corner in warfare by bringing in this new platform that complements — and I stress complements — our incredible manned capacity today,” he said.

“So my task is to figure out which asset you use, where and why to get the best effect in the battlespace,” he said.

The Reaper can fly faster, higher, farther and carry more weapons than its predecessor, the MQ-1 Predator.

Unlike the Predator, which can carry two laser guided Hellfire missiles, the Reaper carries four Hellfires and two 500-pound GBU-12 laser guided bombers, North said.

“It is very, very effective,” he said.

The Reaper, which are flown by a two person crew thousands of miles away at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, reportedly can stay aloft up to 24 hours at a time, sending back surveillance and reconnaissance data.

By contrast, a fighter jet can stay overhead for three to six hours; a B-1 bomber 10 hours.

Keeping the average 90 flights of fighters and bombers over Iraq on a given day means flying another 64 sorties by air refueling aircraft.

And in an age of skyrocketing fuel prices, that cost money.

“The thing about unmanned aerial vehicles is they can stay overhead for a long time, and not use a lot of gas,” North said.

The U.S. is expected to maintain several independent air bases in Iraq, particularly in the Kurdish region.