San Diego’s General Atomics Aeronautical Systems said it has begun flight testing a jet-powered version of its Predator unmanned aircraft system (UAS) with a stealthier design and with the ability to operate aboard Navy aircraft carriers.
Dubbed the “Avenger,” the jet-powered version of the armed surveillance aircraft can fly as high as 60,000 feet and at speeds of roughly 460 mph (400 knots true air speed), which is almost twice as fast as the turboprop-powered Predator B, which has a top speed of 276 (240 KTAS). The Avenger’s first flight was April 4 at the company’s flight operations facility in Palmdale, CA, north of Los Angeles.
A recent preview on the Ares defense blog describes the Avenger as a “UCAV,” an unmanned combat aerial vehicle, designed with a sleek profile, folding wings, and a tailhook for landings aboard aircraft carriers. That could pose some furrowed eyebrows at Northrop Grumman, which has been developing the competing X-47B Pegasus in San Diego for Navy carrier operations under a Pentagon contract.
Developing unmanned aircraft with its own funding, rather than operating under a government contract, has been a hallmark of GA-Aeronautical Systems under retired Adm. Tom Cassidy. In a statement, Cassidy says, “Our company has been uniquely successful in forecasting military needs and delivering extremely capable aircraft that are ready for near-term military use.”
Author: Bruce V. Bigelow
In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here.
Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.
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