The Rise of the Islamic State Could Mean More Drones

One of the effects of the rise of the Islamic State, in addition to putting U.S. troops back in Iraq, may be a reversal in the military’s shrinking drone budget.

Speaking at Intelligence and National Security Summit on Friday, Defense Department Undersecretary Michael Vickers said the rise of the Islamic State “has exposed, along with some of the instability in North Africa, shortfalls that we believe we now have in some capacity areas” — specifically, drone flights, or what the military calls intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

 “We thought we could reduce the rate of growth for our fleet — some — in the years ahead and now we’re really, really looking at that,” he said. “We’ll probably wind up with a different ISR mix after the budget cycle than we would have a year ago because of the rise of ISIL and other challenges.”

Read the full article at Defense One.