The U.S. Air Force announced on Thursday that the 174th Attack Wing has partnered with multiple Department of Defense contractors and academia to lead the effort in establishing new and additional capabilities for the MQ-9 Reaper. According to the assistant director of operations at the 174th Operations Support Squadron, capabilities include battlefield and airspace communications […]

U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command reported that its first MQ-9A Unmanned Aerial System achieved 10,000 total flight hours in the Central Command area of responsibility, a major milestone for the modernization of the force. The MQ-9A “Reaper” is a Remote Split Operations (RSO) product from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Incorporated. The RSO capability revolutionizes […]

General Atomics’ Aeronautical Systems division, or GS-ASI, has released a new rendering of its stealthy, next-generation unmanned aircraft system. The GA-ASI released a new rendering of the new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike unmanned air vehicle (UAV)’s design on its social media page on Friday. The company Twitter post states: “Our robust digital […]

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), an affiliate of privately-held General Atomics, has announced that it delivered the final two MQ-9A Block 5 Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) and a Ground Control Station (GCS) to the Spanish Air Force (SpAF). On 23 November, the last MQ-9A Block 5 remotely piloted medium-altitude, long endurance (MALE) aircraft designed for […]

The post Spanish Air Force takes delivery of its final two MQ-9A Block 5 drones first appeared on Defence Blog.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has activated MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft for imagery support in wildland fire fighting, according to a recent U.S. Air Force news release. At the request of the National Interagency Fire Center and upon approval by the DoD, U.S. Northern Command activated the 432nd to provide Incident Awareness and […]

The post Pentagon activates MQ-9 attack drone to aid civil authorities in California first appeared on Defence Blog.

On Aug. 18, an unmanned U.S. observation aircraft was shot down over Northern Syria, according to local media reports. A MQ-9 Reaper, a $15 million unmanned aerial combat vehicle, has been shot down over the opposition-held province of Idlib, north-western Syria. Initially, the militants passed it off as a downed Russian Orlan-10 drone, but the photo showed […]