… Collectively
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA?ASI) announced on 14 July 2023 that its family of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), which includes the Predator, Reaper, Gray Eagle, Avenger, and MQ-9B SkyGuardian/SeaGuardian variants, has surpassed eight-million flight-hours.
All told, GA-ASI aircraft have completed north of 566,000 total missions in some forty countries.
The U.K.’s Royal Air Force is slated to take delivery of a number of GA-ASI’s new Protector RG Mk1 model drones, the first three of which are currently undergoing integrated test, evaluation, and acceptance trials. MQ-9Bs are operated, also, by the U.S. Navy, the Japan Coast Guard (JCG), and Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF).
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. CEO Linden P. Blue stated: “GA-ASI continues to be a leader in developing reliable, cost-efficient, and sustainable unmanned aircraft systems that perform advanced operations for our customers around the world.”
Mr. Blue added: “Eight-million flight hours is another achievement on our list of historic firsts, which demonstrates our relentless commitment to quality.”
The specific aircraft by which the eight-million-hour milestone was achieved is unknown insomuch as some fifty Predator-class Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) are airborne worldwide every moment of every day.
Globally, GA-ASI aircraft fly an average of forty-thousand hours per-month in support of operations undertaken by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, NASA, the Italian Air Force, the U.K. Royal Air Force, the French Air Force, the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, the Spanish Air Force, the Royal Netherlands Air Force, the Indian Navy, the Polish Air Force, Japan Coast Guard (JCG), Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), and others.
Missions include battlefield ground-support, aiding first-responders, and providing Intelligence Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) to military, government, and law-enforcement customers.
GA-ASI UAS maintain some of the highest mission-capable rates in the aircraft inventories of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army alike.
Over the last three-decades, GA-ASI has produced in excess of one-thousand Remotely Piloted Aircraft and nearly five-hundred Ground Control Stations (GCS). In addition to UAS and GCS, GA-ASI produces Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (PED) systems, as well as sensor payloads that deliver radar and video imagery, detect moving targets on land and sea, and provide Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) on transmissions of interest. GA-ASI has developed, also, a Detect and Avoid (DAA) system conducive to the safe integration of UAS into both civil airspace and combat environments.
GA-ASI’s Predator aircraft family includes the Predator A and Predator XP, Predator B/MQ-9A Reaper, Predator B Extended Range (ER), Guardian, Gray Eagle, Gray Eagle ER, Predator C Avenger/ER, and MQ-9B SkyGuardian/SeaGuardian models.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.29.25)
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