Italy Approved to Buy Six MQ-9 Block 5 Surveillance Drones for $738 Million

The U.S. State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Italy of MQ-9 Block 5 Aircraft and related equipment for an estimated cost of $738 million.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.

The Government of Italy has requested to buy six Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) MQ-9 Block 5 Aircraft; three  Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) MQ-9 Mobile Ground Control Stations (MGCS); nine LYNX AN/APY-8 Block 20A Synthetic Aperture Radars with Maritime Wide Area Surveillance (MWAS) capability; and one (1) Embedded Global Positioning & Inertial Navigation System (EGI).

The proposed sale will improve Italy’s capability to meet current and future threats by expanding and improving the Italian Air Force’s MQ-9 fleet and advancing U.S. and NATO policy goals of security and interoperability.

Italy already has MQ-9 Block 5 aircraft with strike capabilities in its inventory and will have no difficulty absorbing these articles into its armed forces.

The principal contractor will be General Atomics, located in San Diego, CA.