Six MQ-9A over Seven Years – $2.3 Billion incl. Options
C5ISR specialist SMX, having been awarded a task order for US Africa Command’s AFRICOM Reconnaissance Intelligence Exploitation Services (ARIES) mission in early October, has subcontracted General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to provide appropriate UAS. Inclusive of option periods, the seven-year contract has an estimated value of $2.3 billion.
The contract covers the provision of six MQ-9A UAS by GA-ASI, supplied under a company-owned, company-operated arrangement. ARIES is a complex, multi-tenant task order, providing cutting-edge full lifecycle intelligence solutions through cloud-enabled data insights and decision analytics. The objective is to improve US ability to observe, orient, decide and act faster and more effectively on information provided through an innovative ‘system of systems’ intelligence collection and dissemination eco-system.
“I believe our success in winning the ARIES subcontract is due to the great work the team has provided for the past three years on the continent,” observed Fred Darlington, GA-ASI SVP for MQ-9 Systems.
