[SatNews] The surveillance needs of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government are going to be met via a MOU between two firms.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI) and International Golden Group (IGG) will soon offer the Predator® XP UAS to meet the the UAE's contract. Due to U.S. Government export restrictions, sales of all GA-ASI UAS had been limited to the U.S.Government, NATO, and other select allied nations. However, GA-ASI has recently expanded its aircraft portfolio to offer an export version of its flagship Predator UAS, Predator XP. Offering comparable ISR capabilities as Predator, Predator XP has been licensed by the U.S. Government to be proposed for sale to a broader customer base, including countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Predator XP exhibits the same physical dimensions, altitude, speed, and long endurance (up to 40 hours) as the original RQ-1 Predator aircraft first flown by the U.S. Air Force. Battle-proven since its first combat flight in the Balkans in 1995, Predator aircraft have amassed over one million flight hours to date. Predator XP is equipped with the same ISR capabilities employed on the RQ-1. The aircraft may be integrated with multiple exportable sensors, including state-of-the-art Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) cameras and GA-ASI’s Lynx® Multi-mode Radar.