The Team Reaper industry group that was formed to market the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9 remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS) in Australia has re-branded itself as Team SkyGuardian Australia (TSGA).

Initially formed at the 2017 Avalon Airshow to coincide with GA-ASI’s offering of the MQ-9 Reaper for the ADF’s Project AIR 7003 armed medium altitude RPAS requirement, the TSGA name has been adopted to better align itself with the RAAF’s preference for the certified MQ-9B SkyGuardian variant of the MQ-9 family of systems.

TSGA is comprised of GA-ASI and 10 Australian companies or subsidiaries, including Cobham, CAE, Raytheon Australia, Flight Data Systems, TAE Aerospace, Quickstep, Airspeed, Collins Aerospace, Ultra, and Sentient Vision Systems.

The team will be responsible for the manufacture, delivery, training, sensor and communications integration, spares, support, and sustainment of the entire system, with the goal of providing a high degree of Australian industry content (AIC).

The ADF has a requirement for 12-16 SkyGuardian systems. A contract is expected to be signed for the system in 2021, with service entry slated for 2025. The system is also in development for the UK’s RAF as the RG.1 Protector, and has been ordered by Belgium.