GKN Aerospace Predator fuel kit contract extended

GKN Aerospace will supply an additional 100 fuel bladder systems for the General Atomics Predator UAV, under a new $5 million contract announced on 28 January.

The new agreement will see GKN Aerospace continue to deliver the ‘fit and forget’ fuel bladder systems through 2014. The company has already delivered 75 ship sets to date under a previous contract with General Atomics.

The GKN Aerospace-designed and developed fuel kits are manufactured using the company’s new vacuum forming process and durable and lightweight poly-urethane (PU) material.

According to GKN, vacuum forming this material allows fuel bladders to be created in complex shapes that fully exploit all available space on the Predator airframe, maximising the fuel load capacity and platform endurance. These developments also produce a bladder system with a lower parts count, simplifying manufacture, bladder installation and system support.

Ron Kato, vice president and managing director, special products group, GKN Aerospace, said: ‘We are very proud to have been selected to provide what are vital items for the long endurance Predator platform. We have been supplying fuel systems for many decades and for many airframe platforms and invest constantly our research and development activity in this area - allowing us to offer more effective and more environmentally friendly systems. The Predator programme fully exploits all our recent advances in both manufacturing and materials technologies.’

The kits will continue to be manufactured at the GKN Aerospace facility in Alabama.