The Air Force’s hunt for a Reaper successor tells you everything about where cleared talent needs to focus in the next three years. The MQ-9A performed well in Operation Epic Fury — the Chief of Staff called it the MVP — but the production line shut down last year, losses mounted, and the service now wants something cheaper, modular, and attritable. They’re not looking for another exquisite platform; they’re looking for mass.
The Massed Modular Aircraft effort, run through DIU, sets a 21-month prototype timeline and a fiscal 2031 IOC. That’s fast. The requirements — 2,800-pound payload, 2,300-nautical-mile radius, open architecture, autonomy from day one — point to a different kind of program office and a different kind of leader. If you’ve spent a career optimizing low-density, high-value fleets, this is a pivot. If you’ve built things quickly at scale with modular design and software-defined mission sets, you’re in the sweet spot.
We’re already mapping passive candidates who’ve led rapid prototyping programs, stood up autonomy architectures, or managed portfolio approaches across multiple air vehicles. The Air Force is borrowing heavily from Collaborative Combat Aircraft — concept refinement, multiple performers, competition through delivery — and they want both primes and nontraditional firms in the mix. The searches we’re running now reflect that: program leaders who can move between Pentagon and commercial speed, systems engineers who think in families of systems, and test leaders comfortable with operational risk tolerance baked into the design. If you’re still on the Reaper or adjacent ISR programs, now’s the time to think about where you fit in what comes next.