Single Reaper Hits 20,000 Flight Hours
Photo: United States Air Force
General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announced that a single Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft system has amassed a record 20,000 flight miles in 1,355 flights since first flight in 2008.
The aircraft reached the milestone on 23 Dec. during a 17-hour combat mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
“Accumulating 20,000 hours on a lone Predator B airframe is a major engineering milestone that can be traced back to our talented and resourceful GA-ASI engineering team, who continues to develop highly resilient, reliable and affordable platforms that continue to keep warfighters safe every day overseas,” says Linden P. Blue, GA-ASI CEO.
The Predator B series, capable of 27-hour endurance, has about 230 aircraft in operations with the U.S. Air Force, Royal Air Force, French air force, Italian air force, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and NASA. The series has completed over 942,000 flight hours in total.
