On July 10th. at 12:48 p.m. CDT a Medium-altitude, Long-endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) produced by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI) took off from Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA on the first-ever trans-Atlantic flight of a MALE RPA. GA-ASI’s company-owned MQ-9BSkyGuardian is in flight, bound for Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford in Gloucestershire, UK, where it is scheduled to land at approximately 6:45 p.m. local time (GMT+1) on July 11th. Continue reading
Category Archives: Military UAS
MQ-8C Fire Scout Initial Operational Test and Evaluation Complete
USS Coronado (LCS 4) and Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VX-1) completed the first comprehensive Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) for the MQ-8C Fire Scout, June 29. Continue reading
AeroVironment Gets $248M 5-Year US Army Contract
AeroVironment, Inc. announced that on April 10, 2018 the United States Army selected the Company and six other suppliers for small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) sustainment under a five-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. Continue reading
GA-ASI Gets $40M Reaper Contract from US Marines
The US Navy has awarded a $39.5 million contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., of Poway, Calif., to provide MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Marine Corps troops stationed in Afghanistan. Continue reading
Russia’s Attack Drone Prototype to Start Test Flights
The prototype of Russia’s new heavy attack drone Okhotnik (Hunter) developed by the Sukhoi Aircraft Company will start test flights in 2018, a source in the domestic defense industry told TASS on Sunday. Continue reading
US Army to Host Fly-Off for Future Tactical UAVs
The US Army plans to host a fly-off demonstration using off-the-shelf drones to define the capabilities of the FutureTactical Unmanned Aerial System (FTUAS), a replacement for the Textron RQ-7 Shadow. Continue reading
UK Government Report Highlights Issues with Defence Aviation Programmes
The UK government has declared that nearly every major defence aviation procurement programme currently ongoing is either in danger of not being successfully delivered, or can only be delivered once significant issues have been overcome. Continue reading
GA-ASI Maximizing Fuel Capacity for MQ-25
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is using an integrated fuel tank structure to maximize fuel offload for the proposed MQ-25 unmanned aerial refuelling aircraft for the U.S. Navy. GA-ASI applied its knowledge of advanced composite aircraft structures to develop integrated fuel tanks in a large-scale wing box test article and a full-scale wing skin pre-production validation article. Continue reading






