General Atomics, Aeronautical Systems, Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a $327,192,501 cost-plus, fixed-fee contract for MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned Aircraft System contractor logistics support. Work will be performed at Poway, California, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2021.
An MQ-9 Reaper assigned to the 214th Attack Group, Arizona Air National Guard, flies over Alpena, Mich., July 24, 2019 during a training sortie during exercise Northern Strike 19 at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center. (Picture source US Air Force)
This contract provides for program management, contractor filed service representative support, depot repair, depot maintenance, sustaining engineering support, supply and logistics support, configuration management, tech data maintenance, software maintenance and inventory control point/warehouse support for the MQ-9 Reaper.
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper also 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 baseline system carries the Multi-Spectral Targeting System, which has a robust suite of visual sensors for targeting. The MTS-B integrates an infrared sensor, color/monochrome daylight TV camera, image-intensified TV camera, laser range finder /designator, and laser illuminator. The full-motion video from each of the imaging sensors can be viewed as separate video streams or fused.
The MQ-9 Reaper also incorporates a laser range finder/designator, which precisely designates targets for employment of laser-guided munitions, such as the Guided Bomb Unit-12 Paveway II. The Reaper is also equipped with synthetic aperture radar to enable future GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions targeting. The MQ-9 can be also armed with four laser-guided, Air-to-Ground Missiles (AGM)-114 Hellfire missiles, which provide highly accurate, low-collateral damage, anti-armor and anti-personnel engagement capabilities.
