General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced last week that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with International Golden Group, a leading Middle East weapons supplier, to offer the export version of the Predator remotely piloted aircraft to the United Arab Emirates. The US government last year granted General Atomics a license to sell Predator XP abroad. Though the XP version cannot carry weapons, it embodies the same flight characteristics and intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance competencies as the original unarmed RQ-1 Predators that the US Air Force operated. Predator XP can carry a variety of export-cleared sensors, such as General Atomics’ Lynx radar and cameras spanning multiple spectra. (See also Flight International report)
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.