Latest Federal & Government Contracting Companies' News Coverage
The U.K. defense ministry has selected General Atomics to provide a variant of its Predator B remotely piloted aircraft system in support of the country’s intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance needs. General Atomics said Monday the U.K. will acquire modified Certifiable Predator B RPA systems to replace its line of Predator B aircraft starting 2018. The company added its aeronautical […] More
Cobham has agreed to support maintenance of a ground control station for the British air force’s MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft system under a contract with General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business. Cobham said Friday it will help maintain the Reaper GCS and the Sentry Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition system at RAF Waddington as well as the rear crew training platform at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose. “Technicians have completed […] More
A General Atomics subsidiary has received the Capability Maturity Model Integration Maturity level 5 rating for its aircraft systems business unit’s full-directed programs, systems and software development and production processes. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. received the highest attainable maturity level award, which acknowledges companies considered to be working at an optimized level, General Atomics said Thursday. “Absent an externally-levied […] More
General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business has flown its Predator C Avenger remotely piloted aircraft with a United Technologies-built MS-177 electro-optical/infrared sensor. Seven test flights occurred at the Naval Air Weapons Station in China Lake, California that had the Avenger gather land-based and littoral objects imagery through the MS-177 sensor at more than 37,000 feet Mean Sea Level altitudes, General Atomics […] More
A General Atomics subsidiary has partnered with Fokker Technologies, a division of GKN Aerospace, to develop landing gear technology for the Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft system. Netherlands-based Fokker and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. have worked together to offer Predator B to the Dutch armed forces and aim to integrate Fokker’s technology onto the UAV as the companies anticipate a potential drone procurement by […] More
General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business flew its Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper Big Wing unmanned aerial vehicle for 37 hours non-stop as part of a follow-on endurance flight test program. The test simulated an operational mission to check the modified UAV’s flight time and its launch, operational altitude climb, loiter and reconnaissance maneuvering functions, General Atomics said Wednesday. Results indicated […] More
General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems unit and the Customs and Border Protection agency have tested a detect-and-avoid system that includes the company’s Due Regard Radar anti-collision system onboard CBP’s Guardian unmanned aircraft system. The company said Wednesday the DAA system also features a Honeywell traffic alert and collision avoidance tool and sensor tracker as it works to provide air traffic imagery for remotely piloted aircraft GA says […] More
General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business will install an imagery reconnaissance pod created by Israel-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems into a Predator B/MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle flown by Italy’s air force. The Predator B’s Multi-spectral Targeting System-B full-motion video system interoperates with the RecceLite pod to facilitate the production of geo-referenced, high-resolution digital stills, General Atomics said Thursday. The company added it […] More
A General Atomics subsidiary has signed partnership agreements with CAE and the University of North Dakota’s aerospace foundation in an effort to augment training services for operators of Predator and Reaper remotely piloted aircraft. The UND Aerospace Foundation will provide a flight simulator system to help train students at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.‘s RPA Training Academy in North Dakota on how to operate a drone, General […] More
General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business has finished rigorous tests on the fuselage structure of  a new variant of its Predator B remotely piloted aircraft. “Completion of this testing signifies that the design of the new fuselage will be able to meet the strict requirements for type-certification and routine operations in national airspace,” Linden Blue, CEO of General Atomics […] More
Chris Pehrson, a senior executive at General Atomics, has told Bloomberg Government that the vast amounts of intelligence data that remotely piloted aircraft’s sensors collect pose a challenge to the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sector. Pehrson said in an interview published Thursday that General Atomics’ aeronautical systems business seeks to address that challenge through […] More
A General Atomics subsidiary has launched a project to equip a company-built military unmanned aerial system with a high-energy laser technology, Defense One reported Wednesday. Defense One quoted Michael Perry, vice president of mission systems at General Atomics’ aeronautical systems unit, as saying the business is developing a laser module for the Avenger drone through […] More
