General Atomics wins $279 mn contract to produce 24 MQ-9 Reaper UAVs for the USAF

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World Defense & Security Industry News - General Atomics
 
 
General Atomics wins $279 mn contract to produce 24 MQ-9 Reaper UAVs for the USAF
 
General Atomics, Aeronautical Systems, Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a $279,144,933 for MQ-9 Reaper production for the US Air Force. The contractor will provide 24 MQ-9 Block 5 Reaper aircraft and associated spare parts, support equipment and spares.
     
General Atomics, Aeronautical Systems, Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a $279,144,933 for MQ-9 Reaper production for the US Air Force. The contractor will provide 24 MQ-9 Block 5 Reaper aircraft and associated spare parts, support equipment and spares.
General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper medium-to-high altitude, long endurance unmanned aerial system
     
Work will be performed at Poway, California, and is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2017. The US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

The MQ-9 Reaper (previously Predator B) is a medium-to-high altitude, long endurance remotely piloted aircraft system. (UAS), capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Royal Air Force, and the Italian Air Force.

The MQ-9 Reaper aircraft was designed to operate over-the-horizon at medium-to-high altitude for long endurance sorties. The aircraft was designed primarily to prosecute critical emerging Time Sensitive Targets (TSTs) as a radar-based attack asset with on-board hard-kill capability (hunter-killer) and also perform Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Target Acquisition (ISR TA) as a secondary role.

The MQ-9 Predator B Reaper can also be used as an armed multi-mission UAV, launching AGM-114C/K Hellfire missiles and other guided weapons. In total, the aircraft can carry up to 14 Hellfire missiles, compared with two carried on the MQ-1 Predator.