3.3.2020

GA-ASI to Host Blue Magic Belgium Again in 2020

GA-ASI to Host Blue Magic Belgium Again in 2020 – link

Source: UAS Vision

GA‑ASI has announced that it will host Blue Magic Belgium (BMB) again this year
Initiated in 2019, BMB is a GA-ASI industrial collaboration event held to identify Belgian technology companies interested in supporting the development of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian
This year’s BMB event will be held on April 21-22, 2020 at DronePort’s facilities in Sint-Truiden, Belgium
The Government of Belgium has approved Belgian Defense to negotiate for the acquisition of MQ-9B to meet the nation’s RPA requirements
The BMB event strives to increase the number of small and medium size Belgian companies that can provide research and development (R&D) and innovation to support GA-ASI
Companies wishing to meet with GA-ASI representatives during the April 21-22 event should visit theomxevents.com/BlueMagicBelgium for additional information and event registration
As part of last year’s BMB, AeroSimulators Group (ASG), AIRobot, ALX Systems and Hexagon joined Team Sky Guardian, which already included these five Belgium companies: SABCA, Thales Belgium, ScioTeq, ST Engineering and DronePort.

In March 2019 the US State Department gave the green light for Belgium to acquire the MQ-9B SkyGuardian for (then) a potential deal of approximately 600 million USD
Belgium is the second customer of the variant after the launch customer being the UK Royal Air Force
In late 2019 Australia became the third SkyGuardian customer for a potential deal of one billion USD – See “Cobham and GA-ASI Extend Partnership in Australia”
Currently, GA-ASI is pushing its MQ-9 customers to transition to the newer, more advanced, SkyGuardian – See “Abrupt End to MQ-9 Production Surprises General Atomics”
Last December the company conducted a series of demonstrations for various European countries, out of Greece, which focused primarily on maritime operations and detect & avoid capabilities – See “Additional efforts for General Atomics to penetrate deeper within the European Market”
The company is planning regional demonstrations in the Asia-Pacific region where it sees potential for maritime UAS activity – See “General Atomics Plans Asia-Pacific Maritime Patrol Demos In 2020”
Other potential markets the company is reaching out to are India & Japan