SAN DIEGO, California, the USA (BulgarianMilitary.com) – Earlier this week, on 8th October 2018, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) announced that recently the company has completed Follow-On Operational Test & Evaluation (FOT&E) for its MQ-1C ER Gray Eagle Extended Range in Palmdale, California at Air Force Plant 42 in partnership with the U.S. Army, learned BulgarianMilitary.com

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The President, Aircraft Systems at GA-ASI, David R. Alexander commented, “We expected the Gray Eagle Extended Range to perform well and it performed as advertised. The FOT&E highlighted some of the key benefits that the MQ-1C ER will deliver to our U.S. Army customer, including significantly increased endurance, more payload capacity to support future mission tasking, and considerable improvements in system reliability and maintainability.”

The period of testing of that Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), which took 644 flight hours, began in early June as reported. Since the goal is long range and persistent reconnaissance, the full range of the MQ-1C-ER’s capability was tested and the expectations in regard to its endurance were significantly exceeded. Now, after the successful testing, the MQ-1C ER can be initially fielded to the U.S. Army Intelligence & Security Command (INSCOM) and Special Operations Command (SOCOM), followed by units from Forces Command (FORSCOM).

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“The Gray Eagle ER clearly demonstrated its ability to support the future force. We added multiple payloads that enable it to perform a wide range of missions to further support the warfighter in contested operations,” added David R. Alexander.

About GA-ASI

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is a leading company in the field of design and manufacturing of reliable Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems, among which are the Predator®RPA series and the Lynx®Multi-mode Radar. The company also makes various ground control stations and sensor control/image analysis software, develops meta-material antennas and provides pilot training and support services.

Reaper, Predator, and Lynx are registered trademarks of GA-ASI.

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Source: General Atomics