France has ordered a third batch of Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, with delivery in 2019 of three UAVs and two ground stations in the advanced block 5 version, a spokesman for the procurement office said Friday.
“The Direction Générale de l’Armement ordered Dec. 7 2015 the third batch of Reaper medium-altitude long-endurance drones,” the DGA said in a Dec. 10 statement. The delivery is due in early 2019.
France had ordered a second batch in July, procurement chief Laurent Collet-Billon told the French Senate defense committee on Oct. 21. The second batch is due for delivery in 2016.
The second batch and an earlier batch are delivered in the standard US Air Force version, while the third will be in an international version, a US official said.
The first two batches of the General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers are in the block 1 model, while the third and fourth batches will be in block 5, which will allow payloads for gathering electromagnetic intelligence, Collet-Billon said. Block 5 will include separate channels for flying the aircraft, mission systems and data transmission. The new version will qualify for flying in Europe and be used for training. The two block 1 surveillance drones will be upgraded to block 5.
France is part of a four nation collaborative effort now coming together in Europe to develop a next generation rival to the Reaper machine. The program, which is being led by Germany, also includes Italy and Spain.
The partners are due to start a two year definition study ahead of a possible program to deliver the first MALE vehicle by around 2025.
Pilots and operators of the French Air Force Belfort squadron fly the first batch of Reapers from Niger, a key element in operations across sub-Saharan Africa.
The Air Force has nine crews flying the Reaper out of the Niamey airbase, which delivers support over the 5 million square kilometers of the Sahel region, Air Chief Gen. André Lanata told the Senate committee on Oct. 21.
Training and flying the drones are key factors as the pilots can only be trained in the US and in overseas theaters, which leads to overstretching the crews, he said.
“That is why we need to order a simulator,” he said.
Block 5 will be capable of flying in the domestic airspace, which will be helpful as the present Harfang MALE UAV will be withdrawn from service in 2017, he said. An order in 2016 for the fourth Reaper batch will lead to delivery in 2019.
The drones have flown 2,750 hours this year and are due to fly 5,000 hours in 2016, he said.
Each batch comprises three UAVS and two ground stations. France has committed to acquiring 12 Reapers through the four batches under the 2014-19 military budget law.
A first flight of the French Reaper, dubbed Dress Down Six, flew from Niamey in January 2014.
Photo: An MQ-9 Reaper flies by during a training mission at Creech Air Force Base on Nov. 17, 2015, in Indian Springs, Nevada – Isaac Brekken/Getty Images
Source: Defense News