GA-ASI's Predator UAS Passes 200,000 Flight Hours Milestone
( SAN DIEGO, August 14, 2006 ) - General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), a leading manufacturer of unmanned aircraft and high-resolution surveillance and radar imaging systems, today announced that its MQ-1 Predator(r) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) achieved a milestone of 200,000 flight hours last month, with more than three-quarters of that time spent in combat for a total of 10,961 combat missions. The milestone was achieved by P-107 on July 22 while it performed an armed reconnaissance mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, with 139 combat missions flown in the nearly two years it has been deployed.
"Providing continuous and persistent armed reconnaissance and battlefield support to ground forces in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and other world trouble spots since 1995, Predator continues to be the most combat-proven UAS ever produced," said Thomas J. Cassidy, Jr., president, Aircraft Systems Group, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. "Predator aircraft have flown nearly 100,000 flight hours over the past two years and are currently flying more than 6,000 flight hours per month while maintaining the highest operational readiness rates in U.S. Air Force inventory."
A growth evolution of the proven GNAT(r) system, Predator performs over-the-horizon, long-endurance, medium-altitude surveillance, reconnaissance and weapons delivery and has an endurance of 40 hours. Featuring common avionics and mechanical systems, Predator is equipped with a satellite data link system; an Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR)-stabilized gimbal containing color and infrared video cameras, plus laser designation, laser spotting and laser range-finding capabilities; and a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and can be configured with air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles. The aircraft is currently operational with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Government, U.S. Army (Army I-GNAT ER), U.S. Navy and the Italian Air Force, and has been deployed by the U.S. Coast Guard for operations in Alaska.
The entire Predator series, which totals well over 200 aircraft and includes I-GNAT, Predator, Predator B and Altair(r), among other aircraft, has accumulated more than 220,000 flight hours and is currently flying over 6,500 flight hours per month. Additional customers for non-Predator aircraft include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, NASA and the Turkish Army.
In related news, GA-ASI also announced that its employee workforce is now over 2,100 employees. All company facilities are based in Southern California, with corporate headquarters, engineering and manufacturing in San Diego and flight operations and research and development facilities located in the Mojave Desert, just east of Los Angeles.
Source : General Atomics
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