The UK and Belgium have signed up to be the founding Partnership Member Nations in the new MQ-9 International Cooperation (MIC) Support Partnership (SP) formed under the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA).
Other NATO and non-NATO nations will be invited to join the MIC SP as Members, Observers or Associate States, alongside General Atomics – Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI), the manufacturer of the MQ-9A and MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft.
The MIC SP will build on the work done by the UK-led MQ-9B International Cooperative Programme (MICP) over the last four years, which currently comprises ten nations as Participants and Observers, along with the USAF, GA-ASI and NSPA as Enablers.
NSPA and the MIC SP will provide a well developed and tested framework for: furthering cooperation amongst the Member Nations; enhancing interoperability; facilitating training and operating together. This framework will allow to convey national requirements for future capability enhancements and sustainment solutions into a consolidated approach and enabling multinational contracting with GA-ASI or the US Government to achieve significant benefits through sharing of costs among them.
For the UK, this brings to life clearly the ambition set down in the Defence Command Paper 2023 for Defence to be Allied by Design and national by exception.
The two founding Participants of the MICP have now become founding Partnership Member Nations in the MIC SP and current Observers in the MICP will have the ability to transition to Members, Observers or Associate States in the MIC SP. The MICP name is to continue to be used by GA-ASI to describe the totality of the global MQ-9B community of users, which includes some states that may not seek to or cannot become MIC SP members.
“The establishment of the MIC SP by the UK and Belgium represents a significant step forward in delivering the benefits that can be obtained from working together internationally under the NSPA. With support from General Atomics and engagement from the many other NATO and non-NATO nations that are embarking on a path to introduce MQ-9B, there is a bright future ahead for this truly international programme.”
Wing Commander Long, MQ-9B (Protector) International Lead
Those NATO and non-NATO Nations that join the MIC SP will work together to develop a roadmap for future MQ-9B capability enhancements and a common set of requirements for sustainment to allow contracting with GA-ASI to be simplified and cost reductions to be achieved.
“The MIC SP represents the NSPA added value solution in support of NATO and National Autonomous Systems requirements by providing for the acquisition and sustainment services for all the member nations. Further, the collaboration with General Atomics will foster the international cooperation among all the involved stakeholders benefiting the entire enterprise.”
Allan McLeod, NSPA Director of Life Cycle Management
The MIC SP will operate under the legal framework of the NATO Support and Procurement Organisation (NSPO) and the stewardship and governance of the NSPA as a NATO agency and draw on the rules and policies that have been agreed by all 32 NATO Nations. Member Nations will decide on the priorities of the MIC SP and drive them forward across the community and with GA-ASI.
The relationship between the MIC SP and GA-ASI’s global user community formed under the MICP banner, of which all of the MIC SP Member Nations will also be part, is being developed such that there is a clear synergy between the two groups to allow the objectives of the MIC SP to be met along with the needs of GA-ASI to support its global user community.
“We appreciate the support of the MICP, and now the MIC SP, in endorsing the MQ-9B to its allied nations. The RAF has been a longtime partner and proponent of our aircraft and their unique capabilities, beginning with the MQ-9A Reaper and now with their version of MQ-9B called the Protector, currently operating at RAF Waddington.”
David R. Alexander, GA-ASI President
There will also be the opportunity for Member Nations to draw on the expertise of the UK from its military type certification of MQ-9B and to take advantage of the aircrew and groundcrew training provided by the UK through the NATO Flight Training Europe (NFTE) RPAS facility at RAF Waddington, in Lincoln.
All of this will help Member Nations foster the development of common tactics, techniques and procedures and strengthen the ability to deliver exceptional support and services to the MQ-9B community.
Source: Royal Air Force