The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) has selected unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for the delivery of an MQ-9 Reaper UAS.
The company has been selected following consideration by the Ministry of Defence for the Netherlands.
Under the deal, GA-ASI will provide its Predator B / MQ-9 Reaper medium altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAS to the RNLAF.
GA-ASI chief executive officer Linden Blue said: “We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to meet the UAS requirements of the RNLAF.
“We are committed to providing a Nato-interoperable solution that enhances the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of the Netherlands and the alliance.”
GA-ASI’s existing MQ-9 Reaper UAS fleet has logged more than two million operational flight hours with the US Air Force, the UK Royal Air Force, the Italian Air Force and the French Air Force, in addition to Nasa and the US Department of Homeland Security.
The Spanish Air Force is slated to take delivery of MQ-9 Reaper systems from GA-ASI net year.
With up to 26 hours of flight endurance, the multi-mission Predator B UAS is equipped with HD-video sensors, both optical and infrared, ground-imaging / moving-target indication / maritime radar, and other surveillance sensors.
The MQ-9 Reaper UAS has an extensive payload capacity of 386kg internally and 1,361kg externally, as well as a maximum altitude of 45,000ft.
