Several MQ-9 aircraft had been retrofitted with equipment upgrades to improve performance in "high-end combat situations", and all new MQ-9s would have those upgrades. The USAF operated over 300 MQ-9 Reapers as of May 2021, with 16 additional units authorized by the FY2021 Congressional budget. Customs and Border Protection and the militaries of several other countries. Air Force was training more pilots for advanced unmanned aerial vehicles than for any other single weapons system. In 2008, the New York Air National Guard 174th Attack Wing began the transition from F-16 piloted fighters to MQ-9A Reapers, becoming the first fighter unit to convert entirely to unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) use.
The aircraft is monitored and controlled by aircrew in the Ground Control Station (GCS), including weapons employment. The greater power allows the Reaper to carry 15 times more ordnance payload and cruise at about three times the speed of the MQ-1. The Reaper has a 950- shaft-horsepower (712 kW) turboprop engine (compared to the Predator's 115 hp (86 kW) piston engine). The MQ-9 is a larger, heavier, more capable aircraft than the earlier General Atomics MQ-1 Predator and can be controlled by the same ground systems. Michael Moseley said: "We've moved from using UAVs primarily in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance roles before Operation Iraqi Freedom, to a true hunter-killer role with the Reaper." In 2006, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General T.
The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance. The MQ-9 and other UAVs are referred to as Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft (RPV/RPA) by the USAF to indicate ground control by humans. The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF).
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