An MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle crashed Nov. 2 in southern Afghanistan, the Air Force said in a release. The service said it intends to convene an accident investigation board to determine the cause of the mishap. Before this accident, the Air Force had lost a total of 39 armed MQ-1 and unarmed RQ-1 Predators in missions supporting operations in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…