The MQ-9B SeaGuardian® unmanned aircraft system (UAS) is tailor-made to support the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and their allies and partners around the world against peer or near-peer forces.
Making aviation history doesn’t happen overnight. Engineers and executives at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., were confident the short takeoff and landing demonstrator Mojave would launch from an aircraft carrier and then land back aboard the first time.
High-quality intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is essential for the United States and its allies – but gathering it can be dangerous work. In more than a dozen incidents around the world over the past two years, and many others before that, irresponsible pilots have threatened, harassed, damaged and, in some cases, destroyed American or allied ISR aircraft, often placing the pilots and air crews inside in extreme jeopardy.
There’s been a lot of talk about building a new generation of autonomous systems to help the U.S. and its allies preserve their advantage in airpower. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is leading the way. To understand how, consider the scale and nature of the challenge: Tomorrow’s Air Force needs large numbers of versatile, highly capable aircraft to scout ahead, share what they sense, take on tasks and act largely on their own.
As it ushers in the coming era of Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, the Marines are turning to sophisticated unmanned aircraft to outmaneuver these threats.
Unmanned aircraft have been revolutionizing intelligence, military, and so many other applications for years. Now their impact extends to the way navies operate at sea. Leading the way is the MQ-9B SeaGuardian®, which enables the most advanced navies, coast guard agencies, and other maritime authorities to patrol longer, detect more, and make existing units much more effective.
The vision of integrating unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, into airspace alongside traditional manned aircraft is rapidly becoming a reality. UAS play a pivotal role in accomplishing a wide array of critical tasks, and as our utilization of these systems increases, so does our proficiency in operating and handling them. However, to fully reap those benefits, it is imperative that UAS are granted authorization to fly in a civil airspace.
Environmental change and strategic competition are reshaping the Arctic. Traffic is increasing across newly accessible shipping lanes. Untapped natural resources are coming within reach. And tensions are mounting as Arctic and near-Arctic nations compete for commercial and military dominance.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) is working with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to make important upgrades to their growing fleet of MQ-9A Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA).
In a move that will be welcomed by many of its international customers, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has installed enhanced operating software into its Predator Mission Trainer (PMT) simulator that resides at GA-ASI’s Flight Test & Training Center (FTTC) in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
On Feb. 27, 2024, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), in cooperation with the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), conducted a series of tests on GA-ASI’s Sonobuoy Dispensing System (SDS) using the MQ-9B SeaGuardian® Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) on the U.S. Navy’s W-291 test range in southern California.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) hosted an Open Architecture Symposium on Feb. 29, 2024, at its headquarters in Poway, California. At the symposium, government and industry speakers highlighted the tools, communities, and partners required to put Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) into practice in the development of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).
GA-ASI flew the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) for the first time on Feb. 28, 2024. OBSS is an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) program and GA-ASI was selected in 2021 to design, build and fly the new aircraft.
General Atomics, a defense and diversified technologies company with affiliates operating on five continents, is expanding its collaborations and partnerships across Japan with new investments in the nuclear energy and rare earth elements sectors.
During a series of demonstrations in December 2023, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) worked collaboratively to execute several capability demonstrations as part of the Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) concept development.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) successfully demonstrated an inflight release of its Advanced Air-Launched Effects (A2LE) platform, releasing an A2LE from the internal weapons bay of a GA-ASI MQ-20 Avenger® Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS).
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) conducted the first flight of the Gray Eagle 25M (GE-25M) Unmanned Aircraft System at its El Mirage, Calif. flight facility on Dec. 5, 2023. The first flight marks a significant milestone in the Gray Eagle modernization program as the U.S. Army continues to develop the Multi-Domain Operations (MDO)-capable GE-25Ms for U.S. Army active duty and National Guard units.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) demonstrated its hardware-agnostic, open standards-based autonomy ecosystem for Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs) on a GA-ASI MQ-20 Avenger® as part of a live flight test on Nov. 13, 2023.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) demonstrated its rapidly maturing open standards-based autonomy ecosystem for Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs) on an MQ-20 Avenger® as part of a live flight test on Nov. 2, 2023.
On Dec. 5, 2023, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) completed a major milestone with the full-scale fatigue testing of an MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA). The team completed the “first lifetime” of fatigue testing – which is equivalent to 40,000 operating hours – and represents an important step in validating the design of the airframe system.
The Government of Canada has signed a contract to purchase a fleet of MQ-9B SkyGuardian® Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI). The order includes the associated Certified Ground Control Stations and support equipment from GA-ASI. The first delivery is expected in 2028.
On Nov. 9, 2023, the Italian Air Force (ItAF) made its first flight of a new MQ-9A Block 5 Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI). The new RPA was delivered to the ItAF, along with a new Mobile Ground Control Station (MGCS), as part of a Mid-Life Modernization (MLM) update to the ItAF fleet of RPAs from GA-ASI.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) teamed up to conduct flight training for Marines that was completed on Oct. 29, 2023. The seven-week course on the operation of MQ-9A Block 5 Unmanned Aircraft System was given to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1) at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) conducted a first-of-its-kind demonstration of its short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability on the HMS Prince of Wales, a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, using the Mojave Unmanned Aircraft System.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), a leading designer and manufacturer of proven, reliable Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, electro-optics, and related mission systems, and EDGE, a world-leading advanced technology group for defence and beyond, announced an agreement today to integrate EDGE smart weapons onto GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SkyGuardian® RPA.
During a ceremony at ADEX (Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition) on Oct. 18, 2023, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Huneed Technologies for the Korean company to produce a flat panel array for GA-ASI’s Lynx® and EagleEye Multi-mode Radar systems.
Republic of Korea-based ROKADI has signed a Purchase Order to supply General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) with fuel interface rings for GA-ASI’s new MQ-9B SkyGuardian®/SeaGuardian® Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
“Integrating air-launched UAS from Group 5 unmanned aircraft is possible, in part, thanks to advances in relative navigation technology, complex towline analysis, and multi-aircraft control being pioneered by GA-ASI,” said Mike Atwood, Vice President of Advanced Programs at GA-ASI.