US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin vetoed on Tuesday the feasibility of giving Ukraine MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2023) US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin vetoed on Tuesday the feasibility of giving Ukraine MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles.
"It is not a survivable platform if they try to use (the MQ-9) in that environment," Austin said during a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing. He explained that the air domain is a "very hostile airspace" because of Russia's air defense capabilities.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley echoed Austin's stance during the hearing: "It's not survivable. It's big and slow. It's gonna get nailed by the Russian air defense systems."
Milley also added that the Reaper's capabilities were not greater than the smaller, faster, more nimble UAV systems that the US and other countries were already providing Ukraine.
