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Radar detectors to be installed on Predators, Reapers

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Two MQ-1B Predators from the 62nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron Detachment 1 sit in a hanger at Jalalabad Airfield, Afghanistan, Feb. 3, 2016. The MQ-1B is an armed, multi-mission, medium-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft is employed primarily as an intelligence-collection asset and secondarily against dynamic execution targets.

Predator and Reaper unmanned aircraft are getting radar detectors that will allow to spot air defense radars.

The Advanced Radar Detection System (ARDS), developed by German firm Raytheon Deutschland, will be installed on Predators and Reapers, according to an announcement by UAV manufacturer General Atomics. The ARDS will be integrated into a standard pod that will be mounted on the centerline hard point of Predator B.

“Adding an ELINT [Electronic Intelligence] role to Predator B by integrating ARDS will help our customers to map air defense radar threats in contested airspace, from stand-off distances,” said General Atomics CEO Linden Blue.

Testing will begin in 2017, with deployment slated for 2018.

About 

Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him at theuncommondefense.com. His email is mikedefense1@gmail.com.