The US Naval Air Systems Command has awarded General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) a $26.8 million contract for the delivery of two MQ-9A Reaper unmanned air systems (UAS).
The contract also includes the delivery of a dual control mobile ground control station, one modular data center, and one mobile ground control station for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services/persistent strike efforts.
GA-ASI is expected to complete work under the contract by December 2020.
General Atomics’ MQ-9A Reaper belongs the Group 5 of UAS, the group of largest unmanned aerial systems with a maximum takeoff weight of over 1,320 pounds according to Pentagon’s UAS classification. It is currently in service with the US Air Force, while a version of the system, known as MQ-9B Protector, is being prepared for delivery to the UK Royal Air Force.
The navalized version of the Reaper had previously been offered to the US Navy, but the service selected Northrop Grumman’s MQ-4C Triton for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) role.
The order for the two systems comes after a Hudson Institute report indicated that the navy should buy Reapers to complement the more expensive Triton UAS. The report from late 2019 suggested that some of the 200 MQ-9 Reapers in US Air Force service could be repurposed for maritime patrol ISR/T missions.
The Pentagon did not reveal details regarding the systems that will be fitted onto the two Reapers being delivered to the navy, but GA-ASI says the modular MQ-9A can be fitted with multimode maritime surface search radar and automatic anformation systems for maritime missions.
Back in December 2019, the company demonstrated an MQ-9 equipped with multi-mode, maritime surface-search radar, and high-definition/full-motion video optical and infrared sensor in Greece. The company said the sensor suite enables real-time detection and identification of large and small surface vessels in all-weather at long ranges, 360 degrees around the aircraft. The featured Raytheon SeaVue surface-search radar provided continuous tracking of maritime targets and correlation of AIS transmitters with radar detections, while an inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) mode facilitated classification of vessels which are beyond optical sensor range.
