ISIS kill missions: 1 in 5 drone flights includes a missile strike

Nearly one in five of the Air Force's remotely piloted aircraft missions against the Islamic State involves strikes against the militants, according to Air Forces Central Command.

MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers, armed with Hellfire missiles, have flown a third of the Air Force's sorties against Islamic State militants since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve, providing intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance. The unmanned aircraft have hit ISIS targets on 17 percent of those sorties, according to AFCENT statistics provided to Air Force Times.

"When comparing manned vs. unmanned aircraft, it's not important where the aircrew sits to deliver the effects, it’s the effect it delivers that matters," said AFCENT spokeswoman Lt. Col. Kristi Beckman. "The MQ-1 and MQ-9 aircraft deliver persistent attack and reconnaissance and are vital complements to the AFCENT inventory. Both of these platforms, like our manned aircraft, bring different but indispensable qualities to the fight."
Although MQ-1s are nearing the end of their service life, they are now flying just as often as F-15Es.

The phased retirement of the Predator is set begin later this year, and all MQ-1s are expected to be out of service by 2018-2019, officials have said. The Air Force wants to move its airmen onto more MQ-9s and has requested 24 more Reapers in its fiscal 2017 budget.

"The 12 MQ-9 aircraft added in FY15 and the addition of 4 more aircraft in FY16 will greatly aid our combat and reconnaissance operations we provide to the combatant commanders," Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, recently told Congress.

"Air Force MQ-1s and MQ-9s currently fly 60 combat lines every day. Each combat line can last up to 22 hours," he stated in his written testimony for the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 16.
Carlisle did not specify how many combat lines were specifically being flown for missions against the Islamic State.

It is also likely that some of the missions are being flown for the CIA, but the agency declined to comment on the matter.
The RQ-4 Global Hawk, which can hover for more than 35 hours, contributes slightly to high-altitude reconnaissance missions, according to AFCENT. The all-weather, long-distance aircraft does not carry missiles or weapons, but can guide other aircraft to their targets and monitor the airstrikes.

The Air Force has been dominating the air war in Iraq and Syria since the Pentagon committed to fight the Islamic State in 2014. The service, flying more than half the total coalition sorties under OIR, has dropped 4,748 bombs so far in 2016.

Remotely piloted aircraft continue to anchor the 24/7 fight against the extremist group. In addition to the Air Force drones, the Army flies tactical unmanned aerial vehicles like the MQ-1C Gray Eagle for OIR operations. The Gray Eagle, which also can be armed with Hellfire missiles, has flown armed sorties, Army Col. Chris Garver, an OIR spokesman, told Air Force Times Tuesday. He did not say whether the Army had actually struck any targets. The Navy does not have an unmanned ISR capability operating in Iraq or Syria.
The coalition's platforms are all essential, but U.S. fighter aircraft such as the F-16 (which flies the most sorties for OIR) and bombers like the B-1 (which drops the most ordnance) "cannot orbit unseen and unheard over a civilian population interspersed with enemy combatants," Carlisle said.

"They are limited by their loiter time and aerial refueling requirements. Our MQ-1 and MQ-9 aircraft have no such limitations," he said.
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