U.S. Marines to Deploy MQ-9 Reaper UAV in Indo-Pacific

The United States' Marine Corps recently received the first of eight MQ-9 Reapers, which was delivered under a joint contract with the U.S. Air Force.
The MQ-9 Reaper is filling an immediate need for a long-range, long-endurance, land-based Group 5 UAS to conduct ISR and data relay in the Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility, a NAVAIR release said May 10.
The Indo-Pacific Command is tasked with watching over Chinese actiity in the South China Sea and the Pacific where it conducts frequent flights and sailings of its warships to threaten the island of Taiwan.
Currently, the Marine Corps has two operational MQ-9A aircraft to support a wide range of operations such as coastal and border surveillance, weapons tracking, embargo enforcement, humanitarian assistance /disaster relief, peacekeeping and counter-narcotic operations.