GA-ASI Expands Team Reaper Australia

Robust Industry Support Paves Way for Only Viable Solution for Multi-Mission RPA Requirements

Editor Defence Industry

CANBERRA. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, on September 4 announced the further expansion of Team Reaper Australia.

Sentient Vision Systems, Team Reaper Australia’s newest member, is the only Australian provider of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) solutions that has been an integral part of every Australian Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) programme to date. The inclusion of Sentient Vision further reinforces Team Reaper Australia as the only viable solution to meet the Project Air 7003 requirement, which now consists of ten Australian companies providing a range of innovative sensor, communication, manufacturing and life-cycle support capabilities.

“General Atomics recognizes the importance of having a robust team of Australian industry partners to support the Air 7003 requirements,” said Linden Blue, CEO of GA-ASI. “We continue to be committed to partnerships with Australian industry and to providing a capable, affordable RPA system to the Australian Defence Force.”

“Sentient is proud of our close collaboration with the Australian Government. From our foundations of the Defence Science and Technology Group’s Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) programme to our proud history of deployments in support of the Australian warfighter, Sentient sees the inclusion of our ViDAR wide area motion imagery payload as a part of Team Reaper Australia in support of the Air 7003 requirement as a reinforcement of Australian leadership in advanced autonomy,” said Simon Olsen, director of Business Development, Strategy and Partnerships at Sentient Vision Systems.

“Sentient is proud of our close collaboration with the Australian Government. From our foundations of the Defence Science and Technology Group’s Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) programme to our proud history of deployments in support of the Australian warfighter, Sentient sees the inclusion of our ViDAR wide area motion imagery payload as a part of Team Reaper Australia in support of the Air 7003 requirement as a reinforcement of Australian leadership in advanced autonomy”

Team Reaper Australia, originally consisting of Cobham, CAE Australia, Raytheon, and Flight Data Systems, was first announced at the Australian International Aerospace and Defence Exposition (AVALON 2017) by Linden Blue and Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston, AK, DFC of Defence South Australia. Since Avalon 2017, Team Reaper Australia has expanded to ten companies and now includes Cobham Australia, CAE Australia, Raytheon Australia, Flight Data Systems, TAE Aerospace, Rockwell Collins, Ultra Electronics Australia, Airspeed, Quickstep Holdings Ltd and Sentient Vision Systems.

Project Air 7003 will provide the Australian Defence Force with an Armed MALE RPA system that will include aircraft and Ground Control Stations (GCS) that will be fully inter-operable with Australia’s allies.