DSEI 2013: Assistant air chief hits out against Reaper opponents

10th September 2013 - 07:00 GMT | by Beth Stevenson in London

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In a somewhat defiant act against domestic critics of the RAF’s MQ-9 Reaper operations, the assistant chief of the air staff (ACAS) has played down the platform’s role as a weapon system, claiming it is anything but unmanned.

AVM Edward Stringer told the DSEI UAS conference in London on 9 September that only one in 12 sorties in theatre result in live firings, and he criticised the perception that the MQ-9 is nothing but an air vehicle and weapons.

‘What you can’t see… is that this is just one element of a system of systems,’ Stringer explained. ‘The Reaper does

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Beth Stevenson

Beth is a former senior reporter for Digital Battlespace and Unmanned Vehicles magazines. Beth graduated …

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