Jane Edwards
A General Atomics subsidiary has received a potential two-year, $39.8 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force to produce, install and deliver retrofit kits for the extended-range variant of the MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems will perform work in Poway, California, through Nov. 20, 2018, the Defense Department said Monday.
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio will obligate the full contract amount at the time of award.
The company secured the contract modification nine months after it conducted the initial flight of the MQ-9 Reaper ER variant, which has an additional wingspan of 13 feet.
MQ-9 Reaper is designed to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions as well as terminal air guidance, close air support, precision strike and combat search-and-rescue operations.
The drone has a maximum payload capacity of 3,750 pounds and is designed to fly at a maximum altitude of 50,000 feet at a cruise speed of approximately 230 miles per hour.
