Back to news

July 18, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

Netherlands signs deal for unarmed MQ-9 Reaper drones

By:

FARNBOROUGH, England — The Netherlands on Tuesday inked a deal to purchase four MQ-9 Reaper Block 5 drones from General Atomics, marking the first sale of unmanned aerial systems since U.S. President Donald Trump signed off on a policy to loosen up arms sale restrictions.

During a ceremony at the Farnborough Airshow, Vice Adm. Jan de Waard, the director of the Netherlands' Defence Materiel Organisation, and Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, head of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, signed a letter of offer and acceptance. Such a letter cements a foreign military sale between the United States and a foreign nation.

The sale of MQ-9s to the Netherlands has been in the works for a long time.

“It's a party time today,” de Waard said. “We started this program in 2003. We postponed it in 2005, then we revitalized it in, I think, in 2010, and then we postponed it again.”

The U.S. State Department first approved the Netherlands for a potential MQ-9 sale in 2015, when it valued the order at about $339 million for four air vehicles, six Honeywell TPE331-10T turboprop engines, ground stations, Lynx radars, and a variety of other subsystems and spares. The deal is for the unarmed configuration of the Reaper.

Hooper said the Dutch MQ-9s would “not only accentuate their own domestic national security capabilities but will add to their capability to contribute to NATO as a part of that alliance and coalition.”

The announcement of the deal with the Dutch comes just a day after Trump approved an implementation plan for his new export reform policy, called the Conventional Arms Transfer policy. U.S. government agencies been awaiting guidance about how to interpret new arms transfer rules.

The Royal Netherlands Air Force will join Spain and the U.S. in operating the Block 5 variant of the MQ-9, the former of which will begin receiving its aircraft in 2019.

France and Italy additionally operate Block 1 systems, as does the U.K., although the British Royal Air Force is acquiring the new certifiable MQ-9B version via its Protector program, which is expected to enter service in the early 2020s.

India is additionally looking to acquire 22 of the Sea Guardian variant from the U.S., and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. sources claimed that a letter of offer and acceptance for this is expected to be signed by the end of 2018.

There is an option to retrofit the Block 5 to carry the wings and tail of the SkyGuardian, although no detail has been provided on whether or not any of the other nations are currently planning on selecting the option.

Dave Alexander, president of GA-ASI, told Defense News that while there is no immediate demand for either the SkyGuardian or the retrofit option from the largest Reaper operator, the U.S. Air Force special operations forces have shown an interest in it due to an ability to operate from a shorter runway in support of expeditionary operations.

The company has orders to fulfill production of the Block 5 MQ-9 for another five years, he added, noting that GA-ASI is planning to expand its production capabilities to enable it to fulfill forecast orders from India and three other customers.

Aside from the deal with the Royal Netherlands Air Force, a number of agreements were signed between GA-ASI and partners throughout the Farnborough Airshow, an apparent move by the company to demonstrate its willingness to transfer work and technology to customer nations.

Leonardo UK announced it signed an agreement with GA-ASI for the companies to jointly offer the former's Sage electronic support measure system for both the SkyGuardian and Sea Guardian variants.

It will be integrated without the need for an external pod and will be available to order from 2019.

Furthermore, General Atomics and GKN Aerospace signed a letter of intent July 17 to facilitate the development of composite tails for the MQ-9 in the U.K., while Dutch company Fokker has developed landing gear subsystems for the UAV since 2016.

https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/farnborough/2018/07/17/netherlands-signs-deal-for-unarmed-mq-9-reaper-drones

On the same subject

  • This wearable Marine tech can boost human performance and track physiological status

    June 26, 2019 | International, Other Defence

    This wearable Marine tech can boost human performance and track physiological status

    By: Shawn Snow No, it's not going to turn you into Marvel's Iron Man or Captain America, but you might run a better PFT or have fewer fitness-related injuries. The Corps is on the hunt for new wearable gear with biosensing technology that can boost human performance and help build a more lethal battlefield force. On Monday, the Corps posted a request for information to the government's business opportunities website to glean information from industry leaders on available tech to address the Corps' focus on human performance augmentation. The Corps is looking at a number of possibilities from T-shirts, watches, wristbands or chest straps with embedded biosensing technology that can link to and download performance and physiological information to a database. The new biosensing tech will afford battlefield commanders information about the “physiological status and readiness” of Marines, according to the RFI. The new tech will also help commanders to "tailor conditioning and operational training in order to minimize injuries and optimize strength building and overall operational performance,” the posting reads. But with any new tech — especially gear that can track, collect, store and upload data — comes with various operational security, or OPSEC, concerns. In August 2018, the Defense Department banned the use of Fitbits and other fitness tracking devices for troops deployed overseas following data firm Strava's posting of a heat map that revealed the location and details of a number of U.S. bases and military outposts. “The rapidly evolving market of devices, applications and services with geolocation capabilities presents a significant risk to the Department of Defense personnel on and off duty, and to our military operations globally,” then-Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Robert Manning III, said in a command release. Manny Pacheco, a spokesman with Marine Corps Systems Command, told Marine Corps Times that there are “OPSEC concerns with any effort” to procure new gear for Marines and that the Corps will look for “ways to mitigate those concerns.” “In this particular case we are just looking at technologies for potential future use and will address the OPSEC issues as they arise,” Pacheco said about the RFI for the new wearable tech. The Corps listed human performance augmentation as a key focus area headed into 2020. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2019/06/25/this-wearable-marine-tech-can-boost-human-performance-and-track-physiological-status/

  • SCAF : Airbus implique les start-ups dans le projet en Allemagne

    December 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    SCAF : Airbus implique les start-ups dans le projet en Allemagne

    Airbus annonce la conclusion de la phase pilote de l'initiative « Innovations for FCAS » qui vise à impliquer les acteurs allemands non traditionnels de la défense - des start-ups, des petites et moyennes entreprises et des instituts de recherche dans le développement de l'avion de combat du futur (SCAF). Cette initiative lancée en avril 2020 a été financée par le ministère allemand de la Défense. Lors de la phase pilote, 18 PME et start-ups ont ainsi travaillé sur 14 projets en étroite collaboration avec Airbus pour obtenir des résultats concrets tels qu'un lanceur de véhicule sans pilote, un démonstrateur cloud de combat sécurisé ou encore un démonstrateur d'intelligence artificielle appliquée à l'analyse des fréquences radio. EasyBourse du 9 décembre 2020

  • U.S Army awards L3Harris ENVG-B production order

    April 17, 2024 | International, Land

    U.S Army awards L3Harris ENVG-B production order

    This is the first order for the ENVG-B’s Program of Record full-scale production IDIQ, which will total nearly $1 billion over 10 years.

All news