Air Force Clips Global Hawk's Wings

The Air Force decided to not buy any more high flying Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft and instead plans to keep manned U-2s in operation through 2020, Reuters reported.

This will leave the Air Force with a fleet of 21 Global Hawks, which cost $30 million each, but the Navy still plans to buy 68 maritime versions of the unmanned aircraft, Reuters said.

In December 2010, the Defense Department Inspector General reported the Navy failed to validate $329.3 million in bills for its version of the Global Hawk and did not set up a property sharing agreement with the Air Force for $150 million worth of common tools and equipment.

That was back in the days when $150 million was just a rounding error.