Pioneering BLOS Drone Command & Control Test Successfully Conducted with MQ-9
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) successfully executed the inaugural Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) High Frequency (HF) Command and Control (C2) demonstration utilizing its MQ-9 drone.
The HF C2 feature operates independently of a Satellite Communications (SATCOM) link and can deliver BLOS connectivity reaching up to 8,000 miles, influenced by transmit power and link geometry.
During the demonstration, GA-ASI incorporated the U.S. Government’s Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) autonomy software into the Open Operational Flight Profile (OFP) of an MQ-9A Block 5 Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) and operated the MQ-9 with enhanced diagonal tails featuring conformal HF antennas integrated into the leading edges.
GA-ASI’s MQ-9 was equipped with FlexRadio Systems’ FLEX-6600 HF software-defined radio along with related hardware to interpret and implement an autonomous mission strategy. GA-ASI developed a tailored HF software adapter to navigate the specific latency and throughput limitations of the HF waveform to demonstrate BLOS command and control capabilities of the RPA.
The flight demonstration took place at Laguna Army Air Field/Yuma Proving Grounds on December 16, 2020. The MQ-9 was remotely controlled from Austin, Texas, approximately 1,000 miles away via an HF C2 link. This functionality allows an operator to direct the MQ-9 without reliance on SATCOM, thus enabling operations in SATCOM-denied and contested environments.
