Mary-Louise Hoffman
General Atomics will perform mid-life modernization work on the MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft owned by the Italian air force under a U.S. government contract intended to fulfill a foreign military sales requirement.
The company said Thursday its aeronautics systems business will incorporate the Block 5 configuration into Italy’s MQ-9 fleet and update ground terminals used to operate the unmanned aerial system for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
Updated versions of the Lynx multimode radar technology and Raytheon Technologies-built electro-optical sensors are among the features of the Block 5 system.
In September, the U.S. Air Force awarded General Atomics a five-year, $7.4B contract to deliver as many as 36 MQ-9 Reaper units to the service branch each year.
