MQ-9B RPA equipped with V-tail from GKN Aerospace
NewsMarch 23, 2022
POWAY, Calif. The first V-tail from GKN Aerospace has been received by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and installed onto an MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft (RPA).
SkyGuardian is the baseline RPA of the UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Protector RG Mk1. The first of the advanced composite V-tails was shipped from the GKN Aerospace facility in Cowes, England to GA-ASI in Poway, California and fitted onto an MQ-9B RPA, which will ultimately be delivered to the RAF as a Protector RPA.
According to officials, GA-ASI and GKN Aerospace have partnered in the past, first as part of the MQ-9A program and now with the MQ-9B. The GKN Aerospace V-tails are now a standard component of MQ-9B SkyGuardian and the maritime variant, SeaGuardian.
Today, GKN Aerospace manufactures a range of products for the Predator suite of aircraft, including fuel bladders, V-tails, and the lightweight landing gear system manufactured in the Netherlands.
