General Atomic Aeronautics Systems (GA-ASI) and GKN Aerospace announced that they intend to collaborate through the signature composite tail of the GA-ASI Predator B Long Range Aircraft (RPA) series.
GA-ASI expands its relationship with GKN Aerospace
“We are pleased to expand our relationship with GKN Aerospace as part of our growing industrial collaboration team in the UK,” said GA-ASI CEO Linden Blue. “We have seen GKN Aerospace's extensive experience in advanced composites manufacturing and look forward to working with its team.”
Since 2016, GA-ASI has partnered with the Fokker business unit of GKN Aerospace in the Netherlands to produce and maintain the Predator B / MQ-9 Reaper landing gear system. In April of this year, GKN Aerospace Deutschland and GA-ASI signed a Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA) to significantly expand GA-ASI's carbon composite manufacturing capabilities by manufacturing the main aircraft structure for MQ-9B SkyGuardian, Task Predator B, in Germany.
After successfully completing the required technical and commercial evaluations and agreements, GA-ASI also intends to manufacture composite materials for the Predator B tail structure at the GKN plant in the UK.
“We are proud to have the opportunity to participate in the manufacture of key components of the proven Predator B aircraft range,” said Michiel van der Maat, vice president of business development for the European and Asian Aerospace Structures and Systems, GKN Aerospace. “Our goal is to provide a structurally lightweight composite tail for GA-ASI that meets the highest certification standards while providing the best performance.”
GA-ASI's Predator B series currently includes MQ-9A, Guardian, MQ-9A extended range, MQ-9A wing, MQ-9B SkyGuardian and MQ-9B SeaGuardian. To date, more than 325 Predator B aircraft have been built, flying more than 2.2 million hours, supporting the US Air Force, Royal Air Force, Italian Air Force, French Air Force, US Department of Homeland Security, NASA and other customers.
