MQ-9 Reaper Faces Retirement as New Combat Drones Take Its Place

The famous American MQ-9 Reaper drone often makes the news, and usually for rather scandalous reasons. Its appearance in the sky is always a harbinger of trouble — either immediately or shortly afterward. The Reaper is like a scavenging bird, with conflict zones as its natural habitat, where death is always plentiful. But it seems this bird has had its fill. The Pentagon is sending the drone into retirement. No, that does not mean it will disappear tomorrow. Its withdrawal from active service will happen gradually. Newer, hungrier and more aggressive drones are simply coming to take its place. Jack of All Trades, Master of None The Reaper UAV was designed to perform two types of missions: strike missions; reconnaissance missions. And yet its purpose seems completely at odds with the name it was given. "Reaper" means exactly that — a reaper. One might think it had something to do with agricultural aviation and that its job was to scatter fertilizer.