Unmanned Assets Will Support U.S. Indo-Pacific Operations

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.—the San Diego-based, American energy and defense corporation—has been awarded a contract for eight of its MQ-9A Extended Range (ER), Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)—known colloquially as Reaper or Predator B—as part of the U. S. Navy’s ARES Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (ID/IQ) contract.

General Atomics anticipates subsequent awards for ground-control systems, spare parts, and ground support equipment germane to the eight MQ-9A drones—which collectively represent the first increment of the Marine Air Ground Task Force’s (MAGTF) Unmanned Expeditionary (MUX) Program.

Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contracts (IDIQs) are a form of contract in which one party is required to deliver an indefinite number of products or services over a predetermined amount of time—typically not more than five years. Such contracts allow governments and procuring agencies to retain technical expertise for indefinite periods of time in areas such as construction, repairs, electric work, architectural design—and $14.5-million drones.

The Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System (ARES) program is a DARPA initiative to develop unmanned systems capable of bypassing ground threats and delivering cargo and other essential services to personnel—primarily warfighters—in difficult-to-reach areas.

General Atomics will begin delivery of the MQ-9A-ER aircraft and corresponding support equipment in the fourth quarter of 2022 to facilitate a 2023 standup of the U.S. Marine Corps' Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 3 located at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.  The new VMU-3 squadron will operate the drones in support of the Marine Littoral Regiment under the auspices of the Marine Corp’s Force Design 2030 efforts.

General Atomics Vice President of DoD Strategic Development Patrick Shortsleeve states: “We look forward to rapid deployment of these MQ-9A-ERs for our USMC customer. This capability will be a key ISR [Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance] contributor for the Marine Air Ground Task Force – and ultimately for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command – as we pace ourselves to outmaneuver our adversaries.”

The MQ-9A Extended Range (ER) is designed with field-retrofittable capabilities such as wing-borne fuel pods and reinforced landing gear that contemporaneously increase the vehicle’s operational flexibility and extend its endurance to more than 30 hours. Extensive past use in disparate and dangerous combat theaters has proved the MQ-9A an extremely reliable asset and speaks to the veracity of the Navy’s expectation that the system will provide the Marine Corps excellent and persistent surveillance capabilities.

FMI:www.ga.com