3+ week, 1+ day ago   (427+ words) Long-endurance drones such as the MQ-9 Reaper have spent decades performing surveillance and strike missions, but the environment they were designed for is changing. Large, relatively slow unmanned aircraft face greater risks from modern air defenses, while recent losses have…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago   (418+ words) Large-scale air combat exercises face a practical limitation: creating a realistic battlefield can require dozens of aircraft, support platforms and air-defense systems operating simultaneously. That is expensive, logistically demanding and sometimes impossible when forces want to rehearse capabilities that are…...