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A Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) was successfully demonstrated on a Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper Block 5 UAV. The results were recently announced by Predator’s manufacturer, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), a leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic solutions.

Claudio Pereida, executive vice president said: “The successful demonstration of a mature radar warning receiver shows the utility of the aircraft in conducting missions in the proximity of threat radars and enemy air defenses. We’re pleased to be the first company to demonstrate this capability on a remotely piloted aircraft and hope to make it available to interested customers on a quick-reaction basis”.

According to GA-ASI’s site, the Raytheon ALR-69A RWR provides enhanced situational awareness to aircrew as well as command and control units by identifying potential radar threats in or near “contested airspace” environments.

“The ALR-69A provides improved detection range and accurate, unambiguous identification in dense signal environments,” said Paul Overstreet, ALR-69A program manager. “Its open architecture is what allows it to operate on manned or unmanned aircraft.”

In various flight profiles, the device was able to validate RWR performance which met or exceeded current thresholds for both air and ground radar threats. Additionally, the RWR information to the flight crew was deemed useful for triggering flight crew action, such as manually cross-cueing to other onboard sensors to validate threat information.

The company plans further demonstrations later this year in order to include integrating with Link 16, a military tactical data exchange network.