Future US UAV Flights focus on trouble hot spots

Pentagon to Increase Drone Flights Over South China Sea | The Diplomat
The U.S. Department of Defense is planning to step up the number of drone surveillance flights by 50 percent over the next four years the Wall Street Journal reports.
A senior defense official told the Wall Street Journal that the Pentagon in particular seeks to improve its intelligence collection capabilities in places such as Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, North Africa, and the South China Sea.
In detail, the new plan envisions an increase of the number of flights from 61 to 90 by 2019. The majority of missions are currently flown by the U.S. Air Force (USAF). However, in addition to around 60 USAF flights, the new plan foresees as many as 16 sorties flown by the U.S. Army, up to four by the Special Forces Command, and around ten by government contractors.  The USAF currently shares intelligence feeds from 22 out of its 60 daily sorties with the Central Intelligence Agency.

USAF plans to end MQ-1 Predator operations in 2018 - 8/14/2015 - Flight Global
The service has been planning to retire the MQ-1 ever since introducing the larger and more capable General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper in 2007, but the insatiable demand for intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance and target strikes in conflict zones around the world has kept the original Predator in service.
Now, the air force has set 2018 as the end date for the MQ-1 operations and says the aircraft will be moved to the boneyard, but the ground control stations and other items will be repurposed to support the MQ-9.

UPDATE 1-Pentagon eyes sharp increase in drone flights by 2019 -official | Reuters
Aug 17 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is planning a sharp increase in daily drone flights over conflict zones around the globe in the next four years as it tries to meet the reconnaissance and air strike needs of combatant commanders, a spokesman said on Monday.
Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Defense Department spokesman, said the number of unmanned drone flights, known as combat air patrols, would be increased by about 50 percent by 2019 - from between 60 and 65 a day to about 90.
The Air Force will continue to conduct about 60 drone flights daily, while the Army would fly between 10 and 20, and Special Operations Command would provide up to 10 more. The department also would rely on contractors to fly up to 10 other combat air patrols daily, all of them unarmed.

Predator Drone Maker General Atomics Flying Spy Missions For the Pentagon Since April - Defense One
The U.S. military wants to boost its drone presence by 50 percent in four years, and it’s hiring help. General Atomics, maker of the ubiquitous Predator and Reaper drones, began flying intelligence missions for the Defense Department this month.
It’s not unprecedented for the military to hire drone builders to fly them. Boeing pilots its small, unarmed ScanEagle drone, which has a ceiling of 3,500 feet and a top speed under 250 mph, for the Pentagon. But the Predator is far more capable, typically flies at 10,000-feet and, of course, has an armed variant.
Officials with General Atomics told Defense One that the company began flying surveillance missions for the Pentagon, although they could not disclose the location or mission details.
Currently, Air Force crews fly 60 Predator and Reaper combat air patrols, where one CAP means keeping one aircraft in the air around the clock. The Pentagon wants to push that towards 90 by 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. With Air Force drone crews worn out by wartime operations, military leaders are turning to the Army, U.S. Special Operations Command — and the defense industry.