Delivery of the UK Royal Air Force's (RAF's) final five General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is being held back by several months due to delays in clearing engineering modifications that have been made to the aircraft. RAF officers now expect the Reapers will not be fielded in Afghanistan until mid-2014. This will fall only a few months before UK combat forces are set to leave due to the conclusion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission. It had been hoped that all the new Reapers would be delivered by June this year.
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