General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced Sept. 6 the expansion of its Team Reaper Australia.
The team offers the only viable solution to meet the Project Air 7003 requirement and now consists of nine Australian companies providing a range of innovative sensor, communication, manufacturing and life-cycle support capabilities.
GA-ASI is the world’s leading manufacturer of remotely piloted aircraft systems.
Project Air 7003 will provide an armed, Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance (MALE) RPA system that will be fully-interoperable with Australia’s allies. Team Reaper Australia assembles a strong partnership between Australian companies and GA-ASI to meet the requirements of Project Air 7003, while also creating enduring jobs for Australians.
“General Atomics recognizes the importance of having a robust team of Australian partners who support the Air 7003 requirements,” said Linden Blue, CEO of GA-ASI. “We are strongly committed to partnerships with Australian industry and to providing a capable, affordable RPA system to the Australian Defence Force.
Team Reaper Australia, originally consisting of Cobham, CAE Australia, Raytheon and Flight Data Systems, was first announced at the Australian International Aerospace and Defence Exposition (AVALON 2017) by Blue and Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston, then chief of the defence force. Since AVALON 2017, Team Reaper Australia has expanded to nine companies including Cobham Australia, CAE Australia, Raytheon Australia, Flight Data Systems, TAE Aerospace, Rockwell Collins, Ultra Electronics Australia, Airspeed and Quickstep Holdings Ltd.
Darren Hutchinson, the chief strategy officer of TAE Aerospace, said the company is “looking forward to working with General Atomics and the other members of Team Reaper Australia to support the Air 7003 requirement.
“As Australia’s largest gas turbine engine MRO provider, we believe this project will provide substantial benefit to Australia’s local industry and showcase are innovative through-life support capabilities to the world,” he said.
Rockwell Collins “has a proven history of providing innovative systems solutions that meet the specific needs of the Australian Defence Force,” said Nicholas Gibbs, managing director of Rockwell Collins Australia. “Joining Team Reaper Australia will solidify the work we’ve been doing with General Atomics to set the standards for UAS to access civil airspace.”
Ultra Electronics Marketing director, Peter Weir, said “We look forward to supporting Team Reaper by supplying the UAS with special-purpose sensors that are designed and manufactured in Australia.”
And Steve Barlow, managing director of Airspeed, agreed saying “We are thrilled to be part of Team Reaper Australia, offering our reconfigurable and proven airborne equipment pod to house payloads on Reaper.”
Quickstep Holdings is Australia’s largest independent, aerospace-grade, advanced composites manufacturer.
“We look forward to being part of General Atomics’ Team Reaper Australia solution for Project Air 7003’s requirement for remotely piloted aircraft,” said Mark Burgess, CEO and managing director of the company. “This project sits well with our strategic direction, manufacturing capabilities and adds to Australia’s further development of sovereign capability.”
Project Air 7003 will provide the Australian Defence Force with a MALE RPA system that will include aircraft and ground control stations. These elements were displayed during the AVALON 20017 air show in Geelong earlier this year.