Marine Corps Secures Eight Advanced MQ-9A Extended-Range Drones from GA-ASI
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. has received a contract for eight MQ-9A Extended Range unmanned aerial vehicles as part of the Agile Reaper Enterprise Solution (ARES) contract dated May 27, 2022, according to a company announcement on July 17.
GA-ASI expects to secure additional contracts later this year for ground control systems, spare parts, and ground support tools, integral to the initial phase of the Marine Air Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary program of record.
GA-ASI is set to initiate the first delivery of aircraft and support technologies this winter, aimed at enabling the fleet activation by late summer 2023 for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 3, stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. In alignment with the Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 initiative, VMU-3 will utilize these MQ-9A ERs outfitted with specialized sensors and network capabilities to enhance training for the Marine Littoral Regiment.
“We are eager for the swift deployment of these MQ-9A ERs for our USMC client,” stated Patrick Shortsleeve, GA-ASI vice president of DoD Strategic Development. “This advancement will serve as a crucial ISR asset for the Marine Air Ground Task Force — and ultimately for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command — as we strive to outmaneuver potential threats.”
The MQ-9A Extended Range is engineered with field-retrofittable features such as wing-mounted fuel tanks and reinforced landing gears, extending the aircraft’s endurance to over 30 hours while enhancing its operational adaptability. It offers prolonged, persistent surveillance capabilities with full-motion video and synthetic aperture radar/moving target indicator/maritime mode radar. The incredibly dependable MQ-9A ER is outfitted with a fault-tolerant flight control system and a triple redundancy avionics architecture.
