Saab and General Atomics have flight tested an airborne early-warning radar on an uncrewed MQ-9B aircraft, tracking multiple air and maritime targets at long range.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has been flying its MQ-9B carrying Saab’s LoyalEye airborne early warning (AEW) radar from its Desert Horizon flight operations facility in Southern California over recent months. The testing has demonstrated simultaneous tracking of several airborne and maritime targets, including instrumented fighter jets acting as adversaries and several commercial aircraft.
The radar was installed on the MQ-9B using payload pods, and the flight is part of an evaluation program that began with a first flight in May. Stakeholders watched the latest test in real time in a representative operational scenario, the companies said.
Airborne early warning has traditionally depended on large crewed aircraft. Putting the capability on a long-endurance uncrewed aircraft is intended to extend surveillance coverage and persistence where endurance, geographic reach and reduced crew exposure matter, without risking aircrew.
David Alexander, president of GA-ASI, said, “This has been one of the most highly anticipated flight tests we have performed. The level of customer interest in AEW capability on MQ-9B throughout the world is extremely high.”
Carl-Johan Bergholm, head of Saab’s surveillance business area, said, “LoyalEye is designed to complement existing AEW&C solutions by providing additional flexibility and persistence, and today’s flight validates the capability in a representative operational scenario.”
Because it is uncrewed, the system can feed battle management command and control (BMC2) from wherever suitable infrastructure exists – on the ground, on a ship or aboard a crewed early-warning aircraft – and can operate independently or alongside crewed platforms.
The MQ-9B is GA-ASI’s flagship uncrewed aircraft, with variants including the SeaGuardian and SkyGuardian, the UK’s Protector, and a short-take-off-and-landing version in development for aircraft carriers. GA-ASI said it is discussing uncrewed AEW capability on the MQ-9B with several customers.
