Senior Dutch defense officials were present for a ceremony held at General Atomics’ Reaper production line in Poway, California on July 7 for the unveiling of the Block 5-model aircraft, the first of four systems being acquired for the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
The fiscal 2022 spending request forwarded to Congress on May 28 proposes fewer units of aircraft across all fleets, including fighters; mobility; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and rotorcraft.
Destroying enemy fighters has emerged as the initial focus of the U.S. Air Force's nearly year-old MQ-Next program, which seeks to field a replacement for the MQ-9 by the end of the decade.
Since the MQ-9 caught on as a way for the U.S. to track insurgents during its so-called war on terrorism, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles has revolutionized warfare, but will its future hold?
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) and Spain’s Sener Aerospacial are developing an underwing pod that will enable European customers of the MQ-9 Reaper and SkyGuardian to fit sovereign sensors to the unmanned air system.
The U.S. Air Force is inviting industry to submit ideas to start replacing the MQ-9 unmanned aircraft system by 2030 with a next-generation, medium-altitude strike and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance UAS.
