France seeks $1.5B MQ-9 Reaper deal

[SajeevJino]

France seeks $1.5B MQ-9 Reaper deal​

France is seeking to procure MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft from the United States in a package deal worth an estimated $1.5 billion.

News of the proposed sale, reported to Congress by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, closely follows word from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., maker of the Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle that it planned to develop a variant of the aircraft that would meet NATO and general European civil airworthiness requirements

The MQ-9 Reaper is another name for the Predator B, a hunter/killer unmanned aerial vehicle designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance. Intelligence and reconnaissance missions by the U.S. Air force. It has a maximum speed of 300 mph, a service ceiling of 50,000 feet, an operational ceiling of 25,000 feet and an endurance of 14 hours when fully loaded.

U.S. allies using the aircraft are Britain and Italy.

The BQ-9 Reaper package requested by France includes 16 aircraft, eight mobile ground control stations, 48 Honeywell TPE331-10T turboprop engines, 24 satellite Earth terminal sub-stations, 40 Ku band link-airborne communication systems, 40 General Atomics Lynx (exportable) synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator systems, 40 AN/DAS-1 multispectral targeting systems, and 40 ground data terminals

France seeks $1.5B MQ-9 Reaper deal - UPI.com

 

[SajeevJino]

includes 16 aircraft, eight mobile ground control stations, 48 Honeywell TPE331-10T turboprop engines, 24 satellite Earth terminal sub-stations, 40 Ku band link-airborne communication systems, 40 General Atomics Lynx (exportable) synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator systems, 40 AN/DAS-1 multispectral targeting systems, and 40 ground data terminals

Only 1.5 billion Dollars

 

[halloweene]

Correction : French MoD has already stated that these number were only for flexibility (not to restart procedure). Target sill fixed to 12, 10 US like and 10 indigenized.

 

[The Last Stand]

Good for France, MQ-9 is a lethal weapon when used correctly. This deal seems to be cheap.
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@Armand2REP, any comments?

 

[datguy79]

That is a lot of money for a large, slow object that can be shot by SAMs.

Can any member help make sense of the cost? Wiki says they are $17 million per unit, somehow I highly doubt the rest of the equipment is worth $1 billion plus.

 

[TrueSpirit]

That is a lot of money for a large, slow object that can be shot by SAMs.

Can any member help make sense of the cost? Wiki says they are $17 million per unit, somehow I highly doubt the rest of the equipment is worth $1 billion plus.

Yeah, but at least this could work in Mali or Af-stan like scenario. Being a HALE drone, it would be out of range of any Surface-to-Air projectile that Taliban or any Islamic insurgents can shoot.

 

[Armand2REP]

That is a lot of money for a large, slow object that can be shot by SAMs.

Can any member help make sense of the cost? Wiki says they are $17 million per unit, somehow I highly doubt the rest of the equipment is worth $1 billion plus.

Meh...............

The requirement, at least in the near term, is expected to number around 12 Reapers, with the first two delivered within months to urgently bolster surveillance capabilities in Mali, where France intervened earlier this year.

DSCA said the possible package also included eight mobile ground stations, 24 satellite earth terminal substations, 48 Honeywell turboprop engines, 40 General Atomics Lynx radars and a raft of other supporting systems.

DSCA Informs Congress of Intention To Sell Reapers to France | Defense News | defensenews.com

 

[FAR SOLDIER]

France have a huge delay in the UAV field , it's a good deal and it increase the independance of French army , they will not have to call the US for their UAV's (war in Mali)