Air Force to retire Predators

Wired magazine reports that the Air Force is to retire its Predator fleet, an entire force of Reapers instead.

Wave a tear-stained handkerchief for the drone that changed the face of air war: The Air Force won’t buy any more Predators. The Reaper drone is about to be in full effect.

This year, the Air Force completed its scheduled purchase of 268 Predators from manufacturer General Atomics, somewhat behind a schedule the service announced in 2008. By “early 2011,” says Lt. Col. Richard Johnson, an Air Force spokesman, “we’re taking delivery of our last Predator.”

February, to be exact, according to Kimberly Kasitz, a General Atomics spokeswoman. “We’ve actually had a couple of internal celebrations,” she says.

That doesn’t mean the end for the Predator, exactly, since the Air Force will continue to fly the planes it’s bought. But it does mean the beginning of the end. “We’re not replacing the Predator with the Reaper,” Johnson says, “but as the [Predator] fleet diminishes by attrition, we’ll phase in the Reaper.”

Read the full article here http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/12/air-force-is-through-with-predator-drones/