Steve May is currently Manager of International Strategic Development for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), in San Diego, California, USA.
In this position, Mr May is responsible for promoting opportunities for the company’s full line of unmanned aircraft systems, tactical reconnaissance radars, and sensor systems to customers in Europe. He is currently on the Board of Directors for UVS International. Mr May retired from the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. is privately owned, which is one of the reasons that it has been able to spend more on R&D developing aircraft rather than responding to government requests. It also has two private airfields that operate within the NAS and now has over 5,600 employees. All General Atomics RPAS operators are fully certified manned aircraft pilots before being trained to pilot RPAS. One of the company’s strengths is its pioneering use of SATCOM, which started in 1994.
The deployment of NATO forces in Afghanistan has increased interest in ISTAR assets, particularly long endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) capable of carrying simultaneous mixed payloads and which are supporting NATO ground forces 24/7.
Less known are the many civil uses of UAS. The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA- ASI) fleet of UAS has now accumulated more than 1,800,000 flight hours; approximately 90% of them in actual operations. GA-SI unmanned aircraft are currently flying 30,000 hours/month.
In 1994, GA-ASI first flew the Predator for the U.S. Department of Defense. Since then, Predator has become the most widely known “brand” of UAS and includes MQ-1B and RQ- 1B Predator, MQ-1C Gray Eagle, Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper, and now, Predator C Avenger.
Each of the different aircraft was briefly described, with emphasis being placed on Predator B military and civil (maritime, disaster relief, specialized payloads) missions. Predator B utilizes a turboprop engine and is designed with multiple system redundancies to make unmanned aircraft airworthiness certification finally feasible. Predator B was operationally deployed in 2006.
In addition to its use by the USAF as MQ-9 Reaper; the United States Department of Homeland Security uses its own Predator B fleet to perform border reconnaissance missions, now including maritime and coastal patrols, as well as disaster relief missions. In fact the US CBP is now the company’s second largest customer.
NASA also uses its Predator B to demonstrate its ability to carry specialized payloads. The United Kingdom RAF and the Italian Air Force have also acquired Predator B/ MQ-9. Procurement of Predator B/MQ-9 is being actively pursued by additional NATO nations.