Breaking news
General Atomics funded to produce France's second MQ-9 Reaper RPA System.
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World Aviation Defense & Security Industry News - General Atomics
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General Atomics funded to produce France's second MQ-9 Reaper RPA System
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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has been awarded a $43,740,596 contract for France's MQ-9 second system. Work will be performed at Poway, California, and is expected to be complete by Oct. 31, 2017. This contract is 100 percent foreign military sales to France, the US Department of Defense announced on Tuesday, Jan. 19. 2016.
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 A French Air Force's Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft |
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General Atomics delivered on May 29 2015 a third Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper RPA to the French Ministry of Defense. Delivered less than two months after contract award, the aircraft joins two other French Reapers in service, which together have accumulated over 4,000 flight hours since operations began in January 2014.
Pilots and sensor operators from Drone Squadron 1/33 ‘Belfort,’ 709 Air Base Cognac-Château Bernard are performing mission operations to include delivering increased battlefield situational awareness, augmenting combat search and rescue, and providing ground troop support. A total of 12 aircraft are planned to be in service by 2019. The multi-mission Predator B is a long-endurance, medium-high-altitude RPA that can be used for ISR as well as targeting missions. The current aircraft configuration features an extensive payload capacity (850 lb/386 kg internally, 3,000 lb/1361 kg externally), with a maximum altitude of 50,000 feet/15240 meters, and can stay aloft for up to 27 hours. |
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