More than Half the 90 USAF Predators Delivered Lost

During a hearing on the Air Force's fiscal 2007 supplemental budget, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley said money was being put into the supplemental to replace nearly 50 lost Predators. These had been lost in combat, in accidents and in midair collisions. The most recent Predator loss occurred Friday, apparently because of mechanical issues, Air Force officials said. The aircraft went down in a remote area about 60 miles northeast of Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

At a hearing on 12 Feb, Moseley told congressmen that control of Unmanned Air Vehicles above about 3500 ft, where most of the collisions have taken place, should be an Air Force task. Questioned as to the specific non-combat losses Moseley admitted to training attrition, some being simply run out of fuel and others in CFIT accidents (controlled flight into terrain). He failed to equate that Predator loss-rate (or attribute it) to a specific tasking rate. However Moseley did say that "in theater" on any given day, there were 600 to 700 unmanned sorties being flown by Army, USAF and other agencies. Some of those are flying within airspace used by manned aircraft. Safe integration of UAV's, helicopters, manned fixed wing aircraft and artillery continues to be a high priority task.

Moseley also said the Air Force had lost two Global Hawks in Afghanistan — one from an engine problem and the other was assumed to be a flight control problem. Both planes were deployed early to Afghanistan during the test phase of the program because they had the sensor capabilities the service required, Moseley said.

Another two Global Hawks have since deployed, he said, “and we’re about to deploy one or two more because the airplane’s working like a champ.”