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May 17, 2018 / 1:10 PM

General Atomics to retrofit MQ-9 Reaper drones

An MQ-9 Reaper, assigned to the 62nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, is piloted for a mission armed with Guided Bomb Unit-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions Feb. 22, 2018. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Paul Labbe/U.S. Air Force

An MQ-9 Reaper, assigned to the 62nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, is piloted for a mission armed with Guided Bomb Unit-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions Feb. 22, 2018. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Paul Labbe/U.S. Air Force

May 17 (UPI) -- General Atomics was awarded a contract on Wednesday by the Defense Department to retrofit MQ-9 Reaper drones.

The contract, from the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, enables General Atomics to retrofit 122 MQ-9 Block 5 Reaper aircraft as apart of a contract worth more than $206 million under the terms of a firm-fixed-price, fixed-price-incentive, and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday.

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The MQ-9 Reaper is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission asset and is considered one of the primary weapons in U.S. counter terrorism strategy.

The Reapers usually carry a payload of AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles for strikes on military targets.

Work on the contract will occur in Poway, Calif., and is expected to be complete by June 2024, according to the Department of Defense.

More than $40.8 million will be obligated to General Atomics at time of award from fiscal 2017 and 2018 aircraft procurement funds.

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