Fighting the Proxy War

General Atomics is an American energy and defense concern specializing in the research, development, and fielding of technologies germane to nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy.

The company also produces remotely operated surveillance aircraft, including the ubiquitous MQ-9 Reaper, as well as airborne sensors and advanced electric, electronic, wireless, and laser technologies.

Following delivery of the first two MQ-9A Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) procured upon the successful completion of a Company-Owned Company-Operated (COCO) Deployment Contract, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.(GA-ASI) and the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) are celebrating the 19 April 2023 delivery of the first new-build MQ-9A Extended Range (ER) UAS to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). The delivery is part of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Unmanned Expeditionary (MUX) Program.

GA-ASI senior vice-president for MQ-9 Systems, Fred Darlington stated: “It’s exciting to make this initial delivery to NAVAIR, which strengthens the relationship between GA-ASI, the USMC, and NAVAIR, while launching the MUX MALE (Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance) program of record from concept into reality.”

In 2022, GA-ASI was selected by the USMC to deliver eight MQ-9A ER UAS as part of the ARES Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (ID/IQ) contract.

The MQ-9A ER is designed with field-retrofittable capabilities such as wing-borne fuel pods and reinforced landing gear, which collectively extend the aircraft’s endurance to more than thirty-hours while further increasing its operational flexibility. The MQ-9A ER provides long-endurance, persistent surveillance capabilities with full-motion video and synthetic aperture radar/moving target indicator/maritime mode radar. An extremely reliable machine, MQ-9A ER is equipped with a fault-tolerant flight-control system and a triple-redundant avionics system architecture. The aircraft, in point of fact, is engineered to meet and exceed extant manned aircraft reliability standards.

FMI: www.ga-asi.com