On May 27, 2022, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) received an award under the ARES Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (ID/IQ) contract for eight MQ-9A Extended Range (ER) Unmanned Aircraft Systems. As part of the first increment of the Unmanned Expeditionary (MUX) Program of Record for the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF). GA-ASI expects to receive awards later this year for Ground Control Systems (GCS), spare parts, and Ground Support Equipment.
The MQ-9A Extended Range (ER) is built with field-retrofittable features that provide operational flexibility while extending the aircraft’s endurance to more than 30 hours, such as wing-borne fuel pods and stronger landing gear. Full-Motion Video, Synthetic Aperture Radar, Moving Target Indicator, and Maritime Mode Radar offer long-endurance, persistent surveillance capabilities. The MQ-9A ER is a highly dependable aircraft with triple redundant avionics systems and a fault-tolerant flight control system. It is designed to meet and above the criteria for manned aircraft dependability.