At 6:51 p.m. (GMT+1) on Wednesday, a Medium-altitude, Long-endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) produced by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) made history as it landed at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford in Gloucestershire, UK and became the first MALE RPA to successfully complete a trans-Atlantic flight.
The GA-ASI-owned MQ-9B SkyGuardian took off from Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA on July 10th at 12:48 p.m. CDT. The flight covered 3,760 nautical mile flight in 24 hours 2 minutes.
(Footage from the first-ever trans-Atlantic flight of a Medium-altitude, Long-endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA). Courtesy of Youtupe Mania and YouTube. Posted on Jul 10, 2018.)
“This historic event was a demonstration of the endurance and civil airspace capability of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian, and it is fitting to do this as part of the centennial celebration of the RAF,” said Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI.
“The successful flight of the MQ-9B is the culmination of the hard work and innovation of our dedicated employees, and the strong relationships that we enjoy with the RAF, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) and our UK industry partners such as Cobham.”
RAF Fairford will be the site of the RIAT airshow from 13 – 15 July.
The MQ-9B will be on static display during the show.
Over the past 10 years, the RAF has operated GA-ASI’s MQ-9 Reaper® RPA in support of the NATO and Coalition operations.
The RAF is celebrating its 100-year anniversary (RAF100), so GA-ASI seized the opportunity to fly the newest MQ-9 version, MQ-9B to RIAT.
The RAF configuration of MQ-9B will be called PROTECTOR RG Mk1.
(The Protector Combined Test Team (CTT) comprises experienced pilots, sensor operators and engineers from the Royal Air Force, industry partners and the US Air Force who are coordinating the testing and evaluation of the Protector system, which will replace the MQ-9 Reaper in RAF service. Courtesy of HBB Defense Military and YouTube. Posted on Mar 15, 2018.)
MQ-9B is the next generation of GA-ASI’s multi-mission Predator® B fleet.
GA-ASI named its baseline MQ-9B aircraft SkyGuardian, and the maritime surveillance variant SeaGuardian.
MQ-9B is a “type-certifiable” (STANAG 4671-compliant) version of the MQ-9 Predator B product line.
Its development is the result of a five-year, company-funded effort to deliver a RPA that can meet the stringent airworthiness type-certification requirements of various military and civil authorities, including the UK Military Airworthiness Authority (MAA) and the U.S. FAA.
Type-certification, together with an extensively tested collision avoidance system, will allow unrestricted operations in all classes of civil airspace.
“The SkyGuardian trans-Atlantic flight is a significant and exciting event for both GA-ASI and for the future capability of the RAF,” said Paul Armstrong, Senior Vice President of Cobham Aviation Services UK.
“Cobham is proud to have a teaming agreement with GA-ASI for logistics and maintenance services, which builds on our present support of the Reaper Ground Control Stations.”
“We look forward to working with both GA-ASI and the RAF as the PROTECTOR RG Mk1 comes into service.”
Inmarsat Government supported GA-ASI’s flight with its L-band SATCOM service, SwiftBroadband, which provides resilient, seamless backup-connectivity throughout the duration of the flight.
SkyGuardian and its North Dakota-based ground control station are used SATCOM to communicate with and control the aircraft, to include the command for automatic landing at Fairford.
