US considers Spain MQ-9 sale
The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale of MQ-9 Block 5 aircraft and associated parts, equipment, and logistical support to the Spanish government for an estimated cost of $243 million, it was announced on 6 October.
The government of Spain has requested equipment including four MQ-9 Block 5 UAS, 20 Embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Guidance Unit (EGI) (three per aircraft, and eight spares), two Mobile Ground Control Stations (MGCS), five Multi-Spectral Targeting Systems (MTS-B) (one per aircraft, one spare), five Synthetic Aperture Radar, and Lynx AN/APY-8 (one per aircraft, one spare).
The estimated cost if the sale goes ahead is $80 million.
Spain will deploy the aircraft for ISR in support of homeland security, peace enforcement, peacekeeping, counter-insurgency, and counter-terrorism operations. Operating the MQ-9 will increase interoperability with US, UK, French and Italian forces.
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