Page 27 - Australian Defence Magazine May-June 2020
P. 27

             MAY/JUNE 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
UAVS SKYGUARDIAN 27
    ABOVE & LEFT: The Reaper variant chosen by Australia is the same as the UK and Belgian forces.
 US MQ-9A funding withdrawal – if it goes ahead – will not have an impact on these opportunities.
“The global supply chain opportunities we would be look- ing at for Australian companies will primarily be related to MQ-9B production, but that isn’t an absolute boundary as General Atomics manufactures other things (besides Reap- er),” he explained.
“One of the things we are talking to them about is addi- tive manufacturing for instance and that has applications across a range of different products, not just MQ-9B. But, generally, we are focussing on MQ-9B opportuni- ties because it’s a growing order book for us and that’s
an exciting prospect for some Australian companies.” Although actual milestones for delivery of Air 7003 are not clear at the present time, they have certainly slipped from the dates provided by then-Defence Minister Pyne back in late 2018. If the Gate 2 decision occurs as expected in early 2022, a likely in service date would be in the 2023- 2024 timeframe with Initial Operational Capability around twelve months later, a timetable Ludwig says would not be
a problem for GA-ASI.
“We’re excited about the MQ-9B platform, it is a plat-
form at the start of its life and it has a lot of potential,” Ludwig said. ■
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