Italian MQ-9 to get reconnaissance pod
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) will integrate the RecceLite imagery reconnaissance pod onto a Predator B/MQ-9 UAS from the Italian Air Force, the company announced on 2 June.
Rafael manufacturers RecceLite, which is already in use on-board several manned Italian military aircraft.
The RecceLite pod's wide-area coverage capabilities aim to complement the Multi-spectral Targeting System-B (MTS-B) Full-motion Video (FMV) system, nose-mounted on the Predator B. It provides high-resolution, wide field-of-regard, geo-referenced, visible and infrared digital still images. These images can then be post-processed in the Ground Exploitation Station to form a mosaic.
At present, a team comprising of GA-ASI, Rafael and Italian Air Force members are testing the integration hardware that will add this capability to the Italian Predator B. The team will carry out operational and development tests under air force leadership at the Amendola Air Base in early 2017. The system fielding will begin shortly afterwards.
Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI, said: 'Integrating this imagery enhancement capability onto Predator B is a significant milestone and could lead to similar efforts with other NATO customers that operate MQ-9.
'Predator B’s open payload architecture enables users to integrate their own payloads easily, with minimal to no software changes required.'
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