General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
was recognized for its Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) program at Aviation Week’s 16th Annual Program Excellence Awards event on October 23rd.
The GA-ASI GE-ER program team won the award in the category of OEM R&D/SDD (Original Equipment Manufacturer Research & Development/System Design & Development). GE-ER is a new long-range variant of the U.S. Army’s Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system.
“GA-ASI is very proud of our Gray Eagle Extended Range program team,” said David R. Alexander, president, Aircraft Systems, GA-ASI . “I thank our team, led by Doug Aiken, for its hard work and dedication, and we appreciate Aviation Week’s recognition of the team for excellence in managing this program for our U.S. Army customer, whose steady leadership has also been a key element in the team’s success. The next-generation Gray Eagle offers our U.S. Army customer significantly increased endurance, more payload capacity to support future mission tasking, and considerable improvements in system reliability and maintainability.”
The Program Excellence Awards honor global aerospace and defense programs, the leaders and their teams for not only meeting but exceeding program requirements to exemplify best in value creation through outstanding leadership, innovative adaptation, and sound execution.
The first four GE-ER aircraft have been produced and are now being used for developmental testing that will lead to follow-on operational test and evaluation in spring 2018. Deliveries of GE-ER to the U.S. Army will begin in summer 2018.
Source: Press Release