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RQ-1 Predator/MQ-9 Reaper

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RQ-1 Predator/MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicles June 2020 Program Briefing The RQ-1A Predator was the US Air Force’s first medium endurance UAV. The Predator stemmed from the CIA's earlier Tier 1 Medium En- durance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MAE-UAV) that was deployed for surveillance missions over the for- mer Yugoslavia in 1993-94. It was based on the General Atomics Gnat for research purposes. In its hunter- The Predator is a contender in a vari- 750 air vehicle. killer version for the Air Force, it is ety of foreign competitions; the The upgraded version, the Gnat- designated as the MQ-9A Reaper. Netherlands and Spain have been 750-TE Predator won the DoD’s Tier The Air Force had been acquiring the cleared for sales. General Atomics 2 competition with a development MQ-9A alongside the MQ-1A Pred- has developed the Predator-XP ex- award in January 1994 and in 1997 ator but in 2009 decided to shift en- port variant to make it more suitable was redesignated as the RQ-1A Pred- tirely to the Reaper. Procurement for export and likely candidates in- ator. The Predator was first deployed through FY11 was 130 air vehicles. clude the UAE and Saudi Arabia. over Bosnia in the summer of 1995. Under the FY21 budget plan, the General Atomics and Lockheed The US Air Force assumed opera- USAF objective is 419 aircraft with Martin teamed to offer a derivative of tional control of the Predator on 2 new procurement continuing through the Predator called the Mariner September 1996. The armed version FY20. (a.k.a. Predator B-ER) as a contender of the RQ-1 Predator is designated as The US Army awarded a contract for the US Navy’s BAMS (Broad the MQ-1B Predator A. in May 2003 for 3 IGNAT UAVs Area Mission Surveillance) require- The first series production con- based on the Predator to help define ment but it lost to the Global Hawk in tract was awarded to General Atom- its UAV requirements for a divi- April 2008.The Predator-B version ics on 20 August 1997. The US Air sional/corps level UAV called the was selected by NASA’s Earth Sci- Force had a requirement for 12 sys- Extended Range Multipurpose UAV ence Enterprise for research applica- tems and 101 air vehicles, but this (ERMP). A Predator derivative tions as the Altair and first flew in number steadily increased and to- called MQ-1C Grey Eagle (formerly June 2003; it was the first civil UAV taled 320 through FY10. General Sky Warrior) won the Army ERMP to win an FAA airworthiness certifi- th Atomics delivered its 100 Predator competition in 2005 against the cate which facilitates its use in na- on 5 February 2004. In 2007, the Air Hunter II, a derivative of the Israeli tional airspace. The Predator is also force reported it had lost about 49 of Heron. The Army plans to acquire used by the Border Patrol with eight 90 operational Predators due to com- 277 air vehicles through FY20. in service by 2012. General Atomics bat and accidents. In 2009, the Air The US Marine Corps in 2018 de- has developed a jet-powered deriva- Force announced plans to terminate cided to begin to acquire the MQ-9 tive of the Predator, called Predator MQ-1 Predator acquisition in favor Reaper based on experiences in the C and Avenger, for the USAF MQ- of switching entirely to the MQ-9 use of USAF aircraft in Afghanistan. X Next Generation UAS program Reaper. The final MQ-1 Predator was A total of two were funded in 2020. and a navalized version called Sea delivered to the Air Force on 3 March Italy became the first export cus- Avenger for the US Navy UCLASS/ 2011 with about 320 delivered. Pro- tomer for Predator. Britain leased and CBARS requirement (see MQ-25 duction of the Predator A ended in borrowed Predators for operations in Stingray report). The US Air Force early 2016 after delivery of two Ital- Iraq in early 2004 and in 2006 or- began acquiring small numbers of ian aircraft. The US Air Force in dered two air vehicles, followed by this version in 2011. General Atom- 2016 announced that the last of the an order for the RQ-9 Reaper in 2007 ics has also proposed an extended- MQ-1 Predator force would be re- with plans to deploy two squadrons; range version of Reaper. tired by 2018. further orders were made in 2016 un- A new version of the Predator was der the Protector program. France be- announced in 2000, the Predator-B gan acquiring the Reaper in 2013. which was first acquired by NASA World Missiles & UAVs Briefing ©Teal Group Corporation RQ-1 Predator/MQ-9 Reaper Page 2 Executive Big Safari Program Office Aeronautical Systems Center Air Force Materiel Command Wright Patterson AFB, OH The Tier 1 element of this program was managed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Div. PO Box 85608 San Diego, CA 92186-9784 tel: (619) 455-4649 Variants RQ-1A Predator—This is the desig- MQ-1C Grey Eagle Block 1—This which remained in production nation for the baseline system, in- is the baseline Army version of the through 2003 when the FY02 aircraft cluding the RQ-1K air vehicle. Predator and first flew in December shifted to Block 10 configuration. DERF funding from FY02 is being 2007. This Predator variant for the The Block 20 configuration intro- used to reconfigure all RQ-1A sys- Army uses the AAI “One System” as duces wingtip extensions for better tems into the MQ-1B configuration. its GCS. Each system includes 12 air hot/high operations. vehicles, five GCS and associated RQ-1B Predator—This is the Block MQ-9A Reaper Spiral 0—Formerly equipment. 1 system using the improved RQ-1L Predator-B, this is the enlarged ver- air vehicle. MQ-1C Improved Grey Eagle— sion of the UAV and the baseline ver- This is the upgraded version first sion of the new type. MQ-1B Predator—This is the up- flown in July 2013 with 50% more graded RQ-1B system which enables MQ-9A Reaper Spiral 1—This is fuel capacity and powered by a Ly- the air vehicle to employ the Hellfire version integrated the Hellfire mis- coming DEL-120 diesel. missile. sile system on the platform. RQ-1K Block 5 Predator—This is MQ-1C Warrior Block 0—This is MQ-9A Reaper Spiral 2—This is the baseline version of the UAV used the Army version of the Predator, in- the improved version with higher in the reconnaissance role. troduced as a stop gap in 2007 before gross weight, redundant flight avion- the baseline Block 1 was available. It MQ-1L Predator Block 10—This is ics, digitally controlled engine, sen- has many of the same features as the the upgraded version of the RQ-1K sor and stores management com- Block 1 but uses the USAF/General Block 5 modified to carry and launch puter, MIL-STD-1760 data bus and Atomics GCS rather than the AAI the Hellfire missile in the hunter- improved human-machine interface. One System GCS, uses a C-band killer role. This was officially ac- data-link instead of the faster high cepted for service use in February data rate Tactical Common Data- 2005 several years after having actu- Link, lacks the automatic landing ally gone into action. The initial pro- system and some other features. duction standard was called Block 5 Subsystems Launch System Launcher Launch uses a conventional under- A study conducted in 1996 by Si- The Gnat-750 uses conventional carriage. Up to 1997, the Predator erra Nevada Corp. concluded that the aircraft-style launch and landing. had a mean time between crashes of Predator could be integrated into the 1,500 to 1,700 flight hours. UAV Common Automatic Recovery World Missiles & UAVs Briefing ©Teal Group Corporation RQ-1 Predator/MQ-9 Reaper Page 3 System (U-CARS). General Atomic launch the Predator from aircraft car- tional aircraft. A Predator system in- completed a three-year study of the riers. cludes one Ground Control Station electro-magnetic aircraft launch sys- The Predator/Reaper takes off and (GCS), four air vehicles, a Trojan tem (EMALS) for potential use to lands from a runway like a conven- Sprit II communications suite and 635 personnel. Electronics Sensors lb. The Skyball electro-optical pay- in the SEAD role to improve the col- The Tier 1 Gnat-750 is remotely load includes a 14TS imaging infra- lection of data on enemy SAMs. piloted with several options. The red camera and daylight camera pro- The RQ-1A system uses a UAV can be preprogrammed for au- vided by Versatron/Wescam. Northrop Grumman AN/ZPQ-1 TE- tonomous operations and can incor- The four of the original MQ-1B SAR tactical endurance synthetic ap- porate a GPS/INS option for im- Predator hunter-killers were fitted erture radar. The TESAR operates in proved accuracy. The datalink for with the AN/AAS-44 “Kosovo Ball”, the Ku-band with a swath width of flight control is a C-band, frequency an E/O sensor package with integral 800m, a resolution of 0.3 m, a range selectable system with an optional laser rangefinder in June 1999. Alt- of four to 11 km, and an MTBF of digital video channel. The data link hough some consideration was given 700 hours. A total of 27 ZPQ-1 were antenna on the Tier 1 was located in to fitting the remainder of the RQ-1 funded in FY98 and 24 in FY99 with a tear-drop-shaped pod over the fuse- fleet with this, instead, the plan was all but six supplied prior to 1 October lage, developed by a team of to use the Raytheon AN/AAS-52 2001.
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