UV Online 
Farnborough 2010: AAI hits target with third international Shadow buy
The Australian government is believed to have ended speculation about its long running JP129 tactical UAS procurement by signing a deal with the US government to procure AAI-Textron's RQ-7B Shadow 200.
The US government?s Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress on 6 May of a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Australia of two Shadow 200 UAS, and associated equipment, parts, and logistical support for an estimated cost of $218 million.
Australia's defence minister John Faulkner formally approved the FMS last week. The deal for Shadow is believed to have been given the nod by Faulkner alongside several other FMS offerings.
Sources close to the programme said that the package of six FMS deals had been confirmed by the Australian government and was now with the US government awaiting final approval.
The deal will end speculation over the JP129 procurement, which had seemed to drift in recent months. A number of options were on the table alongside the US government proposal, including a Thales bid to lease Hermes 450s.
The Australian Defence Material Organisation (DMO) is believed to have opted for a non-standard configuration of the Shadow TUAS. Rather than four air vehicles each Australian system is expected to include five Shadow 200s (including a spare), the Australian government also asked for a further eight spare aircraft and additional protable GCS.
However, even with these additional elements it is difficult to understand why the Australian Shadows are coming with such a potentially large price tag unless there is an option on further systems. The four systems being ordered by Italy are priced at $64 million and the $31.4 million order for Sweden is for two systems.
AAI recently said the DMO had entered very detailed discussions on the technical specifications of the Shadow UAS, although a decision hadn't been expected until the October timeframe.
A delivery schedule is yet to be announced. However, the Australian Department of Defence had disclosed that it expected it to take 34 months to get the UAVs in service from the initiation of the FMS process.
The decision caps off an extremely successful six months for AAI with three international customers opting for the Shadow.
By Darren Lake, Farnborough
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