[SatNews] Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designers at General Atomics in Poway, California, will provide the U.S. Air Force with 24 MQ-9 Block 5 Reaper attack drones under terms of a $279.1 million contract announced Wednesday.
Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, are asking General Atomics Aeronautical Systems segment to provide the 24 armed Reaper drones, as well as spart parts and support equipment.
The Reaper is a variation of the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator UAV that is designed for surveillance and attack missions using a suite of airborne sensors and the AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missile. General Atomics refers to the Reaper as the Predator B. Users are the U.S. Air Force and the British Royal Air Force.
Compared to the MQ-9 Reaper Block 1 models, the Reaper Block 5 has increased electrical power, secure communications, auto land, increased gross takeoff weight, weapons growth, and streamlined payload integration capabilities.
The new model has a high-capacity starter generator and upgraded electrical system with a backup generator that can support all flight-critical functions. The drone has three independent power sources to accommodate new communications such as dual ARC-210 VHF/UHF radios with wingtip antennas for simultaneous communications among multiple air-to-air and air-to-ground parties; secure data links; and an increased data transmission capacity. The Reaper Block 5 can carry heavier payloads or additional fuel.
The turboprop-powered, multi-mission Reaper armed drone can fly for more than 27 hours between refueling at speeds to 240 knots at altitudes to 50,000 feet. The medium-endurance UAV can carry payloads as heavy as 3,850 pounds, including 3,000 pounds of external stores like Hellfire missiles.
The Reaper can carry as many as four 4 Hellfire missiles, two GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs, or two 500-pound GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). Twice as fast as Predator, the Reaper carries 500 percent more payload and has nine times the horsepower, General Dynamics officials say.
The Reaper has a fault-tolerant flight control system, triple-redundant avionics system, and is powered by the Honeywell TPE331-10 turboprop engine, integrated with digital electronic engine control (DEEC) to improve engine performance and fuel efficiency at low altitudes.
The Reaper cab carry electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensors, Lynx multi-mode radar, multi-mode maritime surveillance radar, electronic support measures (ESM), laser designators, and a variety of weapons.
The sophisticated drone has redundant flight-control surfaces; can fly remotely piloted or autonomously; has a MIL-STD-1760 stores management system; seven external payload stations; C-band line-of-sight data link control; Ku-band beyond line-of-sight and satellite communications data link control; more than 90 percent system operational availability; and can self-deploy or fly aboard C-130 utility aircraft.
This aircraft has been acquired by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), NASA, the Royal Air Force, the Italian Air Force, and soon others, company officials say. On this contract General Atomics will do the work in Poway, Calif., and should be finished by September 2017.
