They are using drones now for most of that type of recon work. The day of manned tactical and strategic recon is over and the work of Foward Air Controllers is now being done by drones as well.
Republicans, and many Democrats, are upset by the prospect of so-called sequestration cuts to the nation's defense budget. Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is so alarmed that the day before the Senate took up what became the "fiscal cliff" agreement, he called a key Republican lawmaker, Sen. Lindsey Graham, to express deep concern that the cuts might go into effect. As it turned out, Congress put them off for two months.
Sequestration would force the government to reduce discretionary spending by about $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Roughly half of that, or $600 billion, would come from defense -- a...
Helicopters are used for transport, or attack, not recon in most situations.
UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) or drones as civilians call them do most of the recon.