In March, the Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait, which also hosted an Italian contingent, was attacked. An Iranian “shaed,” that is, an unmanned combat aerial vehicle with autonomous guided munitions, struck a hangar shattering a reconnaissance “Predator/Reaper” belonging to the Italian air task force. That vehicle, commented at the time by the Chief of Defense Staff, Luciano Portolano, was “indispensable for carrying out operational activities and had remained deployed to ensure the continuity of operations.” Another one of these high-tech drones disappeared in the skies over Libya in 2019.
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Now, seven months later, the Air Force has ordered two new MQ-9A Block 5 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft produced by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. “The Italian Air Force – reads a company statement – has ordered two new remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) MQ-9A Block 5 Reaper from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. When the new aircraft are delivered at the end of 2027, they will expand the Italian Air Force fleet. The purchase is part of a foreign military sales agreement with the United States Air Force that also includes ground control stations.”
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Drone “hunter – killer”
The MQ-9A Block 5 Reaper (produced by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems) is one of the most advanced “hunter-killer” type remotely piloted aircraft in the world for ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and attack missions. A hunter-killer drone is a remotely piloted aerial system specifically designed to perform both the search and tracking phase (hunter) and the attack and destruction phase (killer) of the target. Compared to previous versions, the Block 5 introduces high-level avionics and operational standards.
Features
The MQ-9A Block 5 has an endurance of up to 26 hours and can operate up to 45,000 feet (13,716 meters). It has a payload capacity of 4,600 pounds (2,087 kilograms), including 3,750 pounds (1,701 kilograms) of external loads. It has persistent and long-duration surveillance capability thanks to full-motion video, synthetic aperture radar/moving target indicator/maritime radar, as well as automatic takeoff and landing. The MQ-9A Block 5 is equipped with a fault-tolerant flight control system and a triple-redundant avionics architecture, meaning it has three identical and independent electronic, computing, or flight control systems operating simultaneously to perform the same function onboard the aircraft.
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