MQ-9 Guardian Gets New Maritime Capability
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עברית (Hebrew)
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. has introduced a new sonobuoy capability for its MQ-9 Guardian maritime unmanned air vehicle.
The new sonobuoy capability has been developed alongside Ultra Electronics over two years, Jonny King, director for General Atomics’ UK division, says.
“What we’re really looking at is a Predator B carrying sonobuoys, controlling them, and sending sonobuoy information back to the ground station over a SATCOM link,” King says.
“The work has seen us put the system together in a lab and carry out ground testing and prove it end to end. We were ready to go flying in 2015, but the aircraft were diverted to more urgent work. So we will be flying this early in the new year to prove the system.”
The first demonstration will see the aircraft fly over sonobuoy emulators that are placed on land, and then send data back over the SATCOM link to an acoustic receiver on the ground. “It won’t be the final system, but is the first step,” King says.
In 2012 the company worked with Selex to integrate the Seaspray 7500E multimode active electronically scanned array radar onto the MQ-9. Maritime AIS and identification friend or foe transponders can also be integrated to add to the capability.
“The Reaper could be re-roled at any stage for the maritime mission, it takes about 12h to put the maritime pod on,” King adds.
“We’re now working towards a certifiable system and it will be able to complement other maritime assets,” he notes.
