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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in San Diego, CA received an $8.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for one next-generation MQ-9 Predator B UAV/UCAV to be used in demonstration and operations. The MQ-9 Predator B is a successor to the MQ-1 Predator UAV, designed to carry a larger array of weapons. It is often referred to as a “hunter-killer” UAV, though it is also the base platform for NASA’s Altair high-altitude scientific UAV and the Mariner long-range martitime patrol UAV. This contract includes the MQ-9 Predator B craft, as well as ground support equipment, spares kit and system integration.
Work will be performed in San Diego, CA and is expected to be complete in April 2007 – though given General Atomics’ unusual “build it and they will come” business model, it may be waiting in storage as we speak. This contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Patuxent River, MD (N00421-06-C-0024).