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ER/MP UAS Facility Tour and Interviews with Aircraft Operators
WHAT:
Operator/Soldiers for the U.S. Army’s Extended Range/Multi-Purpose Quick Reaction Capability-2 (QRC-2) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Program will tour the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) production facility. GA-ASI manufactures the ER/MP aircraft the Soldiers will operate (Sky Warrior® UAS). The Soldiers will meet with GA-ASI leadership and personnel, as well as with Army UAS and Aviation leadership.
This class of UAS operators has extensive experience operating a variety of UAS in theater and will deploy with the new weaponized Sky Warrior aircraft in 2010. This QRC-2 class follows the QRC-1 class that deployed with an earlier version of the aircraft this past spring.
The QRC units were created as a result of the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Surge, when Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked the Army acquisition community to rapidly deploy tools to support the Soldier. The UAS Project Office was tasked to speed the deployment of the ER/MP by two years, from 2011 to 2009.
WHEN:
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
9:00 a.m-11:30 a.m. (PST)
Attending media are invited to participate in part or all of the following activities:
9:00 a.m.- 9:15 a.m. Media Check-in & Orientation
9:15 a.m.-10:00 a.m. GA-ASI Integration Facility Tour
10:00 a.m.- 10:15 a.m. Media Check-in & Orientation
10:15 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Speeches & Presentations
11:00 a.m.- 11:30 a.m. One-on-One Media Interviews
WHERE:
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
14115 Kirkham Way, Poway, Calif.
Directions: Poway is located in San Diego County. Take I-15 to Scripps Poway Parkway exit and head east. Follow road for approximately five miles and turn right on Stowe Drive. Turn right into the first driveway. Security will guide you to reserved parking.
Security Requirements: Media representatives planning to attend must be U.S. citizens and complete a Visitor Authorization Letter. Please contact Rebe Philip at rebe.philip@uav.com or 858-312-2694 for a copy of the form and return it to her via e-mail (PDF) or fax (858-312-4247) by November 25. Camera passes are also required for on-site photography and/or filming and must be reserved in advance from Ms. Philip.
WHO:
Interview/photo opportunities will be available with the following:
BG William T. (Tim) Crosby, Program Executive Officer, Aviation, U.S. Army
COL Gregory Gonzalez, Project Manager, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, U.S. Army
Thomas J. Cassidy, Jr., President, Aircraft Systems Group, GA-ASI
Linden P. Blue, President, Reconnaissance Systems Group, GA-ASI
ER/MP UAS Operators/Soldiers
ABOUT ER/MP:
The ER/MP UAS Program was developed to provide combatant commanders with a much improved real-time responsive capability to conduct long-dwell, wide-area reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, communications relay, and precision strike missions. ER/MP addresses an ever-increasing demand for greater range, altitude, endurance and payload flexibility. Each 12 aircraft system will support 10 key Army Divisions and be responsive to the lowest level of command for dynamic re-tasking. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., along with its Team Sky Warrior partners AAI/Textron Systems, SPARTA, and L-3 Communications Systems West, was awarded the Systems Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase for the ER/MP UAS Program in August 2005. While the initial SDD contract called for 17 Sky Warrior UAS, the multi-year contract has since grown to 31 UAS, with 15 aircraft already delivered to the test program.
ABOUT SKY WARRIOR:
An innovative and technologically advanced derivative of the combat-proven Predator® unmanned aircraft system, Sky Warrior UAS was designed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. to provide the U.S. Army and Division Corps commanders with long-range, armed, unmanned aircraft surveillance and attack capability. Featuring a heavy-fuel engine, triple redundant avionics, and redundant flight controls/surfaces, Sky Warrior can fly for more than 30 hours and carry four Hellfire missiles. QRC versions of the aircraft will also carry a Lynx® Block 30 Synthetic Aperture Radar/Ground Moving Target Indicator (SAR/GMTI) manufactured by GA-ASI. An earlier Block 0 version of the contracted Block 1 aircraft was fielded more than a year ahead of Army requirements to meet urgent combat needs and has contributed significantly to defeating terrorists and saving soldiers’ lives. Variants of Sky Warrior have been flying in combat for over three years.
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