San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has finally flown its long-anticipated Predator C unmanned aerial vehicle, a stealthy, jet-powered model considered as a potential successor to the company’s MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper UAVs. Stephen Trimble of Flight Magazine broke the news in an entry at his DEW Line blog yesterday. According to Trimble, GA-ASI President and CEO Thomas Cassidy revealed in an interview that the Predator C flew the first weekend in April. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a while to know more details since GA-ASI spokeswoman Kimberly Kasitz told the Daily Report yesterday that the company has no plans to release any additional information on the Predator C “for another couple of weeks.” The company has been pursuing the Predator C for several years under a tightly held veil of secrecy. Already, GA-ASI supporters are lobbying for the new UAV. As pointed out by Trimble, San Diego-area Rep. Brian Bilbray (R) announced April 3 that he would like to see $26 million included in the next appropriations bill for Predator C development, saying the UAV would provide “an additional covert capability, enhanced by much higher operational and transit speeds for quick response and quick repositioning for improved mission flexibility and survivability.”
The Space Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $398 million contract to design and build a communications satellite prototype with advanced anti-jam and data processing capabilities. The service announced the contract for the Enhanced Protected Tactical SATCOM-Prototype program, or Enhanced PTS-P, May 15, and said the satellite will launch no sooner than…