The Air Force won’t stop building “basic” MQ-1 Predators for a while, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley said. Moseley told reporters at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Monday that USAF will buy MQ-1s and their more powerful cousins, the MQ-9 Reapers, simultaneously. The basic Predators are needed to “flesh out” unmanned aircraft squadrons—especially Air Guard units—that have been waiting while units in US Central Command get priority. The aircraft are needed both to provide capability and get a larger training capability rolling.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…