General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. gets $18M to weaponize French MQ-9.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $17,868,222 undefinitized contract action for the France MQ‐9 Block 5 weaponization and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Pod Integration effort. 

French MQ-9 Reaper (Picture source: Ministère des Armées)

The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF). The MQ-9 and other UAVs are referred to as Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft (RPV/RPA) by the USAF to indicate their human ground controllers.

The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance.

This contract provides for the weaponization of the French Air Force MQ‐9 Block 5 aircraft and integration of the FMS Pod onto the French Air Force MQ‐9 Block 5 aircraft. Work will be performed in Poway, California, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 30, 2021.  This contract involves 100% foreign military sales to France.