SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Michael Fallon, the United Kingdom's top defense official, on Saturday announced the signing of a $125 million deal with General Atomics for Predator B unmanned systems, known as Protector drones in the UK.



Fallon made the announcement at the start of the Reagan National Defense Forum, held outside Los Angeles, California. The announcement, he said, would "double our own UAV fleet."



The US State Department alerted Congress last week that the UK plans to purchase up to 26 of the Protector models, with a total potential cost of $1 billion. However, this deal covers only the development and not the manufacturing portion of the Protector buy.





Protector will be outfitted with advanced imagery and data link technology, and will eventually be armed with the UK-made Brimstone 2 missile as well as the Paveway IV bomb.

Fallon also cast the agreement as proof that the relationship between the US and UK remains strong.