Mq-9 Reaper Ukraine - Ukrainian officials are negotiating with General Atomics to buy armed MQ-9 Reaper drones, Forbes reported, citing a spokesman for the manufacturer.
The publication quoted General Atomics spokesman S. Mark Brinkle as saying the company was ready "immediately" to supply unmanned aerial systems to Ukraine pending approval by the US administration.
Mq-9 Reaper Ukraine
"With the support of the US government, these planes could be in the hands of Ukrainian military pilots within days.
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Brinkley said the company had previously delivered drones to foreign customers in 30 days, adding that the logistical footprint of a Reaper delivered to Ukraine would be much smaller than usual for the US military.
Although it takes nearly a year to train an American drone pilot, Brinkley claims the training period can be drastically shortened.
“Any public estimate currently offered by observers of logistical footprints and training timelines is based on how the US military uses the aircraft at best. In a crisis like this, rapid training and implementation efforts could radically reduce these estimates and footprints.”
"Ukraine has qualified military pilots familiar with UAV operations who are motivated to protect and defend their homelands," Brinkley added. "We're not starting from scratch."
Les États Unis Vont Fournir Des Drones Male Reaper à L'ukraine.
According to the media, the estimated cost of the drone at $32 million per unit would not be a significant obstacle, as the bill would be borne by the United States. The number and model of Reapers in question is unknown.
Details of the talks, which took place earlier this month in Washington, emerged as the Biden administration approved an $800 million arms package for Ukraine last week.
The first tranche of the package - 18 155 mm howitzers, 40,000 artillery shells, 200 M113 armored personnel carriers, 11 Mi-17 helicopters and 100 armored multi-purpose vehicles - arrived at the Ukrainian border.
The inclusion of artillery in the package is a step up from previous rounds of arms deliveries. However, the US administration continues to be careful not to deliver weapons such as tanks and fighter jets that could escalate the conflict.
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The publication speculates that the Reaper will significantly increase the damage inflicted on Russian forces by drones such as Turkey's TB-2 Bayraktar.
The MQ-9A's 1,700-kilogram (3,800-pound) payload allows it to carry more lethal or longer-range munitions than the 150-kilogram (330-pound) TB-2.
More importantly, the American aircraft's superior range of 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) versus the TB-2's 150 kilometers allows it to take off from safer positions and strike deeper into enemy territory.
In addition, the aircraft's superior ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) capabilities would allow the Ukrainian military to track enemy troop movements much more accurately.
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It took only two weeks for one of the newest brigades of the Ukrainian army to receive American M-2 combat vehicles
The MQ-9 Reaper flew until August 8, 2007 at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada. (Photo ... [+] Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Ukraine is in talks to buy US heavy attack drones that could change the balance of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
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Ukrainian officials met last week in Washington with General Atomics, a California-based maker of military drones, including the MQ-9 Reaper, the U.S. Air Force's primary reconnaissance and attack UAV. While the U.S. government would have to approve any sale, such negotiations between Ukraine and a U.S. defense contractor are unlikely to happen without a green light from the Biden administration.
"We already have aircraft available for immediate transfer," General Atomics spokesman S. Mark Brinkley told me. "With the support of the US government, these planes could be in the hands of Ukrainian military pilots within days.
General Atomics already has experience in quickly delivering the MQ-9 to other countries. "In the past, we have worked with the U.S. government to deliver MQ-9 Reapers to a partner country in less than 30 days," Brinkley said. "The logistics footprint can be minimal, also much smaller than what people associate with UAS logistics footprints in the US."
The Biden administration is already planning to supply Ukraine with more advanced weapons, according to the Washington Post. Worried that heavy weapons like tanks and fighter jets could escalate the conflict, the US has been wary of providing Ukraine with smaller weapons, such as Javelin man-portable anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and even tiny 5-kilogram Switchblade "kamikaze drones."
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The MQ-9 would be a much different beast. Although General Atomics did not mention specific models it might sell, the most likely candidate would be the Reaper, which, along with the earlier MQ-1 Predator, has been the backbone of US military drone operations for more than 20 years.
The MQ-9 could radically change the war, in which drones have become one of Ukraine's most devastating weapons against Russian armored columns. The unexpected star of the Ukrainian drone fleet was the Turkish-made TB-2 Bayraktar.
Equipped with laser-guided missiles, the TB-2s – of which Ukraine is believed to have about 20 – destroyed hundreds of Russian tanks, artillery pieces and anti-aircraft weapons. Despite significant Russian investments in air defenses, Russian fighter jets and anti-aircraft weapons have proven surprisingly ineffective against Ukrainian drones, including hobbyist UAVs modified into surveillance and attack aircraft.
The Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicle is presented during TEKNOFEST 2021, the aviation, space and technology festival at ... [+] Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey on September 21, 2021. (Photo by Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via (Getty Images)
Predator Rq 1 / Mq 1 / Mq 9 Reaper Uav, United States Of America
But comparing the TB-2 to the MQ-9 is like comparing a Humvee to a sedan. The MQ-9 has a wingspan of 66 feet compared to 39 feet for the TB-2. The MQ-9 weighs about 11,000 pounds fully loaded with fuel and weapons, compared to 1,400 pounds for the TB-2. The Reaper is twice as fast, with a top speed of about 300 mph versus about 135 mph for the TB-2.
Perhaps most significant is the vastly superior range of the MQ-9: up to 1,200 miles for the base model and 1,600 miles for the ER (Extended Range) version, compared to just 93 miles for the TB-2. The Turkish drone will have to operate quite close to the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine, making it more vulnerable to Russian air and missile attacks on airfields. But the MQ-9 has the range to operate from safer bases in eastern Ukraine: given that the distance from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv to Kyiv in the east is 291 miles, and Lviv to the southern port of Odessa is 800 miles, the additional range of Reaper could be key to keeping Ukraine's drone fleet safe from Russian retaliation. Indeed, the MQ-9 would have the range to strike deep into Russia and even as far as Moscow.
General Atomics believes that Ukraine will benefit from more advanced US drones. "They would greatly expand the ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability] of the entire military force and provide highly lethal strike capabilities that smaller combat UAVs cannot have," Brinkley said.
But the TB-2 has one big advantage over the MQ-9: it's much cheaper. The TB-2 costs $1 to $2 million, while the MQ-9 is estimated to cost up to $32 million apiece (the sale of four MQ-9Bs to Taiwan in 2020, plus ground stations, spare parts and training, is estimated to 600 million dollars ). That's a big move for a smaller nation like Azerbaijan, which used the TB-2 to destroy Armenian armor in the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020. But if the U.S. is willing to accept that option, the MQ-9 offers a much bigger capabilities for Ukraine.
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However, there are obstacles to the purchase of the Ukrainian MQ-9. The most obvious is training and familiarization: the Ukrainian military is used to using Russian (actually Soviet) equipment, not Western designs, and the US Air Force requires a year of training for UAV pilots.
However, General Atomics is confident that it can quickly train Ukrainian crews. "Military pilots already familiar with drone operations can be trained to fly our aircraft quickly," Brinkley said.
“Any public estimate currently offered by observers of logistical footprints and training timelines is based on how the US military uses the aircraft at best. In a crisis like this, rapid training and implementation efforts could radically reduce these estimates and footprints.”
"Ukraine has qualified military pilots familiar with UAV operations who are motivated to protect and defend their homelands," Brinkley added. "We're not starting from scratch."
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Another problem is survival. While Russian air defenses have proven extremely ineffective against drones, history teaches that the military eventually adapts. So far, the MQ-9 has been used in areas - Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria - where the enemy did not have serious air defense. Russian supersonic jet fighters - if used competently - against slow-moving drones can be a problem.
However, drones have become a scourge for the Russian military,
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