SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Michael Fallon, the United Kingdom's top defense official, on Saturday announced the signing of a $125 million deal with General Atomics for Predator B unmanned systems, known as Protector drones in the UK.

Fallon made the announcement at the start of the Reagan National Defense Forum, held outside Los Angeles, California. The announcement, he said, would "double our own UAV fleet."

The US State Department alerted Congress last week that the UK plans to purchase up to 26 of the Protector models, with a total potential cost of $1 billion. However, this deal covers only the development and not the manufacturing portion of the Protector buy.

Protector will be outfitted with advanced imagery and data link technology, and will eventually be armed with the UK-made Brimstone 2 missile as well as the Paveway IV bomb.

Fallon also cast the agreement as proof that the relationship between the US and UK remains strong.

"The arrival of a new administration is an opportunity for us in Britain to further tighten our bilateral defense ties," he said. "There is no greater proof of the cooperation between Britain and the United States than the fact that our nuclear ballistic submarines share a common missile component, and we are investing billions in US attack helicopters, maritime patrol aircraft, drones and other systems."

Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.

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