An unarmed Air Force MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft crashed Tuesday at the Seychelles International Airport on the island of Mahe near the capital Victoria, announced USAF officials in a brief statement. There were no reported injuries. US officials notified the Seychelles government of the mishap and US military and Seychelles civil aviation authorities are coordinating the removal of debris, according to the statement. The airport reopened to normal traffic not long after the crash, it noted. The cause of the incident is under investigation. The Defense Department confirmed the presence of unarmed MQ-9s in the Seychelles in 2009 for use in countering piracy in and around the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
Fixing the Air Force’s chronic combat pilot shortage will require more aircraft in the fleet, more flying hours to squadron operations, and retaining more pilots within Reserve components, according to a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.