The U.S. Air Force underway to restructure ISR inventory to combat with China

In the wake of rising tensions with China and to boost the competitiveness, the US Air Force is making cuts in its ISR inventory. According to a top U.S general, it is a step towards taking calculated risks in intelligence, operations, and examining its aircraft portfolio.

The Air Force in its 2022 fiscal budget proposed mothballing its four E-8 JSTARS aircrafts and RQ-4 Global Hawk. The E-8 JSTARS aircrafts are used by the US Air Force for ground surveillance and targeting attackers while RQ-4 Global Hawk is a surveillance drone.

But, the US Air Force will not so soon divest the MQ-9 Reaper drones. The service uses these drones for collecting crucial information about the targets and attacking the targets. However, it is planning to deduct the MQ-9 patrols in FY22. The MQ-9 patrols will be soon withdrawn from the Afghanistan military bases.Let. Gen. David Nahom said, the reduction of the aircrafts will allow the US Air Force to use the airline differently in competition and in many places around the world in the environments which are comparatively less contested.

Rose Riley the spokeswoman told that the service plans to drop 56 combat lines in the FY22. However the service will retain the MQ-9 aircraft. He said, the Block 30 Global Hawks and Reaper are critical for carrying out missions but are not that resilient to fight against one of the U.S.’ greatest adversaries like China.