GA-ASI secures contract to supply four MQ-9B SeaGuardians to Taiwan

GA-ASI has secured a contract to provide four MQ-9B SeaGuardians (pictured) along with two ground control stations, spares, and support equipment to Taiwan. (General Atomics)

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) has secured a contract to provide four MQ-9B SeaGuardian medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the Republic of China (RoC) Armed Forces. .

The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced on 1 May that the value of this “undefinitised contract action” secured by GA-ASI will not exceed USD217.6 million. Under an ‘undefinitised contract action', contractors can begin work before the terms, specifications, or price of the contract is agreed upon.

The DoD said that in addition to the four MQ-9B SeaGuardians, GA-ASI will also supply two ground control stations (GCSs), spares, and support equipment to the RoC Armed Forces as part of the contract.

The DoD added that all work for the contract will take place in Poway, California, and is expected to be completed by 5 May 2025.

In November 2020, the US DoD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that the US Department of State approved a possible sale of four MQ-9B SeaGuardians to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US.

The DSCA said that besides the four UAVs, TECRO requested procurement of two static and two mobile GCSs; 14 embedded global positioning system/inertial navigation systems with a selective availability anti-spoofing module; L3Harris' Wescam MX-20 electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) sensors; Raytheon's SeaVue maritime multirole patrol radars; and Leonardo's SAGE 750 electronic surveillance measures (ESM) systems.