The Royal Australian Air Force will have its first “killer drones” to strike at enemies remotely after the Morrison government formally confirmed it would order 12 to 16 General Atomics MQ-9B SkyGuardian unmanned aircraft.
The SkyGuardian, a variant of General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper, was developed in compliance with European flight regulations for international customers interested in medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) remotely-piloted aircraft.
The armed, remotely piloted aircraft will cost taxpayers $1 billion to $2 billion, based on the estimates in the 2016.
Variants of the MQ-9 are used by the U.S., U.K., France, Italy, and Spain. The Netherlands, Australia and India have plans to acquire it.
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