General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) and L3 Technologies  have jointly developed and tested a signals intelligence (SIGINT) payload for the former’s MQ-9B UAV. A wing-mounted pod developed by GA-ASI carries the SIGINT sensor and was rapidly developed in eight months, ahead of testing at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona last month.

“The successful collaboration between L3 and GA-ASI provides a new dimension for ISR employment of MQ-9 aircraft and provides expanded options for warfighters in the ISR domain,” said Jeff Miller, L3’s senior v-p and president of its ISR systems business division.

GA-ASI said that generating “electronic order of battle” is a strategic concern of the U.S. and its allies, and the integration of this capability will enhance the use of the MQ-9B in support of this role.

Furthermore, GA-ASI was granted permission last month by the Netherlands Research Laboratory (NLR) to carry out a simulated flight demonstration of a controlled approach of its developmental MQ-9B SkyGuardian. The remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA) was used to show that it could operate under the guidance of air traffic control in an airport akin to how manned aviation does using instrument flight rules. 

“This demonstration helps show the air traffic management community that flying large RPA in civil airspace can be as safe as managing a commercial manned aircraft when the RPAS is properly designed,” said GA-ASI president David Alexander.

GA-ASI was involved in the synthetic modelling of the UAV so that the NLR could facilitate the air traffic controllers dealing with the flight as it would a manned aircraft. The simulated flights were based out of Rotterdam Airport with representative civil air traffic.

The demonstration took place in one of the lab’s facilities, during which seven contingency and emergency scenarios for the UAV were introduced for the various parties to contend with. This included loss of propulsion, loss of datalink, loss of voice communications, missed approach, missed departure, airborne traffic conflict, and automatic landing systems failure.

Demonstrations such as this one are helping the development of the MQ-9B, which will eventually be fully integrated into national airspace and led by ATC. The UK's Royal Air Force is the launch customer for the type and the program has carried out in excess of 100 flight tests to date.