PROCUREMENT: Air Force Expands Mission for Reaper Attack Drones, Adds New Weapons.

“The MQ-1 Predator paved the way through 24 years of service and adaptation leading to expanded capabilities of the MQ-9 Reaper. The mission set doesn’t change. The capabilities to fulfill those multi-role missions are expanded by the MQ-9 Reaper,” Maj. Ken Scholz, Air Force Spokesman, told Warrior Maven.

The Air Force is adding new weapons to the Reaper, in part by leveraging an emerging “universal weapons interface.” This would allow the Reaper to more quickly integrate new weapons technology as it emerges and efficiently swap or replace bombs on the drone without much difficulty, Air Force weapons developers explain.

This is something brought to fruition by common standards and IP protocol engineered with adjustable software and hardware configurations. This enables faster integration or a more seamless addition of new weapons on the Reaper platform.

Compared to (admittedly more-capable) manned jets, the Reaper is a relative steal at about $20 million per.