General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, (GA-ASI) and GKN Aerospace have signed a contract for GKN Aerospace to manufacture the advanced composite V-tails for GA-ASI’s new MQ-9B SkyGuardian® Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) from its Cowes facility in the United Kingdom.
SkyGuardian is the baseline system of the U.K. Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Protector RG Mk1 and has also been selected by Belgian Defence and the Australian Defence Force. This represents another important milestone in the ten-year strategic relationship between GA-ASI and GKN Aerospace, and adds to the strong investment GA-ASI is making in U.K. industries.
GA-ASI and GKN Aerospace had previously entered into a pre-production contract, under which GA-ASI provided the required engineering technical data and tooling, and GKN Aerospace developed their manufacturing processes and produced demonstrator parts. Under this latest agreement, GKN Aerospace will begin full-rate production of the V-tails from the Cowes facility to support MQ-9B aircraft production.
