Naomi Cooper
General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business has secured a contract to build and flight test an unmanned aerial system that is being eyed as an off-board sensing station for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
GA-ASI will employ its Gambit Series collaborative combat aircraft to validate the OBSS concept developed by AFRL under the low-cost attritable aircraft platform-sharing program, the company said Thursday.
The award exercises an option in a potential $49 million contract GA-ASI secured in November 2021 to manufacture the OBSS.
The existing contract has a 12-month concept development base period that culminated in a critical design review.
“AFRL is moving forward with GA-ASI because we have the right background and experience to develop the OBSS aircraft at scale and on time, and we look forward to working with them to deliver another game-changing UAS,” said David Alexander, president of GA-ASI.
