MQ-9 Reapers now Flying Operational "Gorgon Stare" Wide-area Airborne Surveillance System

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has confirmed that the US Air Force (USAF) is flying the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Afghanistan equipped with the Gorgon Stare wide-area airborne surveillance (WAAS) system.

The confirmation came in the form of an image that was posted on the DoD's Flickr site that showed a Gorgon Stare-equipped Reaper of the 62nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron (ERS) departing Kandahar Airfield on 5 December. The accompanying caption names the Gorgon Stare as being the payload pictured.

While the USAF has previously issued two images of the Reaper fitted with Gorgon Stare in Afghanistan (in August 2012 and September 2014), on both of those occasions the images were believed to have been released in error. Even though the images showed the Gorgon State in-theatre, the USAF did not name the system or respond to requests for confirmation.

The Gorgon Stare Increment II payload, which is shown in all three of the images so far released, comprises two underwing pods, one of which houses an electro-optic (EO) camera, the other an infrared (IR) camera (the baseline Gorgon Stare has a different configuration, comprising a single podded EO/IR turret with a second pod for the datalinks).

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France has Ordered 3 More Reaper Drones

France has ordered a third batch of Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, with delivery in 2019 of three UAVs and two ground stations in the advanced block 5 version, a spokesman for the procurement office said Friday.

"The Direction Générale de l’Armement ordered Dec. 7 2015 the third batch of Reaper medium-altitude long-endurance drones,” the DGA said in a Dec. 10 statement. The delivery is due in early 2019.

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US Air Force to add 75 MORE Reaper Drones

The U.S. Air Force’s plan to pare down its drone fleet was fantastically unrealistic—and the branch’s leadership seems to be finally realizing this. Now, as Foxtrot Alpha predicted, the Air Force is asking to expand its drone capacity dramatically due to the the threat from international terrorism, the realities regarding the state of conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the dismal cultural and personnel situation within the drone force’s ranks.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times, on Thursday, the Air Force has a $3 billion dollar proposal that aims to add 75 MQ-9 Reaper drones to the current fleet of 175 Reapers and 150 Predators. This will increase the number of drone squadrons from eight to 17.

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Russian Fighter Tracks MQ-9 Drone Over Syria

Spain Planning on Arming its Reaper UAVs

Spain has confirmed that it will eventually try to weaponise its future fleet of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper unmanned air vehicles, although the immediate priority is to bring the surveillance-only variant into operation.

Madrid's programme to acquire a class III UAV for its air force began in September last year, with the Reaper eventually selected in mid-2015 over the competing Israel Aerospace Industries Heron TP.

“The LOA [letter of agreement] from the US government is about to be signed, and this could be done before the end of the year,” Col Enrique Martinez Vallas, former chief of acquisitions programmes for the Spanish Air Staff, told a London conference on 19 November.

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Watch the Russian Fighter Circle Around an American MQ-9b Reaper Drone

British Protector UCAV Will be a Reaper Derivative

The UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the unmanned air vehicle that it plans to acquire under its recently-announced Protector effort will be a derivative of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper that the Royal Air Force operates.

While the specific configuration that it will acquire is not yet known, the MoD confirmed to the Royal Aeronautical Society’s president’s conference that it will be a new version of the Reaper.

Details of Protector – the new name for what was previously known as Scavenger – were revealed by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in early October, but he did not say which UAV it would be.

However Air Cdre Peter Grinstead, head of UK unmanned air systems at the MoD, has revealed that a new Reaper will be selected, although more details on the exact configuration are not expected until a Main Gate decision is made in March.

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Maritime Patrol UAVs: Reapers With Freakin Sono Bouys in Their Payloads!

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has introduced a new sonobuoy capability for its MQ-9 Guardian maritime unmanned air vehicle which, alongside a number of other developing technologies, could make it a contender to help fill the UK’s maritime patrol gap.

A concept was presented at the Royal Navy’s maritime awareness conference at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall on 24 September, which showed a number of sonobuoys being released from a bay on the UAV.

While a requirement for a maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) acquisition has yet to be released from the UK government, the developments that General Atomics is incorporating into the MQ-9 suggests that it will look to offer a modified Guardian to complement a manned MPA that is expected to be procured.

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.

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The Differences Between the American Reaper and Chinese Caihong 5 UCAVs (drones)

China’s newest drone, the Caihong 5, appeared in last night’s huge military parade in Beijing. Chinese media are comparing the Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone to America’s MQ-9 Reaper, which with up to four Hellfire missiles and two 500-lb. precision-guided bombs under its wings is the baddest drone known.

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To the untrained eye the two drones may look a hell of a lot alike. But we hear from experts who cannot be named that the similarities between the Caihong 5 and the Reaper are at best superficial. Our experts work on black drone programs and can’t speak on the record.

The Caihong 5 has both a radome nose and an upward pointing V-tail like the Reaper, and its 66 foot wingspan is exactly the same as the American drone. According to Chinese media, the Caihong 5’s maximum gross takeoff weight is about 6,000 lbs., well below the Reaper’s 10,500 lbs., and Beijing’s Reaper knockoff has a reported maximum payload of 900 kilograms (1,984 lbs.), far less than the MQ-9’s combined payload of 3,000 lbs. external and 850 lbs. internal. The Reaper’s combined payload is about 1,749 kilos, nearly double the Caihong 5’s.

But that tale of the tape is just as superficial as the Caihong 5’s resemblance to the Reaper.

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Global Hawk, Predator, Other Drones may get Upgrades Including air to air missiles

It’s a little-known fact that when Northrop Grumman designed the Global Hawk spy drone back in the 1990s, the company added underwing hardpoints for weapons — just in case the U.S. Air Force decided, down the road, that it wanted to arm the currently-weaponless 737-size surveillance robot.

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more info.

and more.

TO be honest, it would be better to start phasing out the predators and reapers for a new drone with the capabilities they want rather than add in the capability for a drone which is not really able to perform very well in, say, an air to air mission.

Pentagon Denies Report of Captured Drone

The Pentagon is denying reports by Russian sponsored media companies that a U.S. Army drone crashed while flying an intelligence mission over Crimea.

An unnamed Pentagon official told ABC News the report was false because the U.S. is not flying any drone missions over Crimea, the segment of Ukraine that Russian troops are stationed.

Rostec, a Russian state owned media company, reported the U.S. drone was flying at 12,000 feet when a cyber attack forced it to make an emergency landing. The Voice of Russia reported the drone was an MQ-5B Hunter with the “66th U.S. brigade of military intelligence with the main location in Bavaria.”

A couple issues with that report besides the denial from the Pentagon.

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The link I saw said MQ-9B.  

Did Russia Just Capture a MQ-9B Reaper Over Crimea?

A United States surveillance drone has been intercepted above the Ukranian region of Crimea, a Russian state arms and technology group said Friday.

"The drone was flying at about 4,000 metres (12,000 feet) and was virtually invisible from the ground. It was possible to break the link with US operators with complex radio-electronic" technology, said Rostec in a statement.

The drone fell "almost intact into the hands of self-defence forces" added Rostec, which said it had manufactured the equipment used to down the aircraft, but did not specify who was operating it.

"Judging by its identification number, UAV MQ-5B belonged to the 66th American Reconnaissance Brigade, based in Bavaria," Rostec said on its website, which also carried a picture of what it said was the captured drone.

The photograph appeared to show an apparently armed drone in flight, rather than debris.

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