Australian Defence Force Selects GA-ASI’s MQ-9B for Project Air 7003
5.12.2019 04:28:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), the world’s leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), has been advised that the Australian Government has selected GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SkyGuardian® variant to provide the Armed RPAS for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) under Project Air 7003. This follows the Government’s announcement in November 2018 that GA-ASI would provide Armed RPAS to the ADF. The ADF expects to take first delivery in the early 2020s.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191204005989/en/
The Australian Government selected GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SkyGuardian® variant to provide the Armed RPAS for the Australian Defence Force under Project Air 7003. (Photo: Business Wire)
“We have worked closely with the ADF to determine the right RPAS to meet their needs,” said Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI. “MQ-9B will provide the all-weather, multi-mission support, and interoperability that the ADF requires. We look forward to working closely with our Australian industry partners to provide a highly capable RPAS to the ADF, while creating high-tech jobs in Australia.”
The ADF joins other top-tier military forces in choosing a GA-ASI RPAS because of its proven multi-role combat performance. MQ-9B is part of GA-ASI’s Predator® series of RPAS, which is the world’s most trusted and capable armed Medium-altitude, Long-endurance (MALE) RPAS, and hails from a family of aircraft that has flown more than six million flight hours.
The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) is acquiring the MQ-9B as part of its Protector RG Mk1 program and is scheduled for first delivery in the early 2020s. The Government of Belgium has approved Belgian Defense to negotiate for the acquisition of MQ-9B to meet the nation’s RPA requirements.
MQ-9B development is the result of a five-year, company funded program to deliver an unmanned aircraft system to meet the stringent airworthiness type-certification requirements of NATO and civil aviation authorities throughout the world. MQ-9B is provisioned for the GA-ASI-developed Detect and Avoid (DAA) system, which consists of air-to-air radar, Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II), and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). The MQ-9B is built for all-weather performance with lightning protection, damage tolerance, and de-icing system.
GA-ASI announced its intention to offer a MALE RPAS to the ADF during AVALON 2017 with the launch of Team Reaper Australia, a robust group of Australian industry partners. The team currently consists of ten world-class Australian companies providing a range of innovative sensor, communication, manufacturing and life-cycle support capabilities including Cobham (lead industry partner), CAE, Raytheon, Flight Data Systems, TAE Aerospace, Quickstep, AirSpeed, Collins Aerospace, Ultra, and SentientVision.
Hi-resolution images of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian are available to qualified media outlets from the GA-ASI media contact list.
About GA-ASI
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is a leading designer and manufacturer of proven, reliable Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems, including the Predator® RPA series and the Lynx® Multi-mode Radar. With nearly 6 million flight hours, GA-ASI provides long-endurance, mission-capable aircraft with integrated sensor and data link systems required to deliver persistent flight that enables situational awareness and rapid strike. The company also produces a variety of ground control stations and sensor control/image analysis software, offers pilot training and support services, and develops meta-material antennas. For more information, visit www.ga-asi.com.
Predator, SkyGuardian and Lynx are registered trademarks of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191204005989/en/
Contact information
Steven Henden
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
+1 (858) 524-8101
ASI-MediaRelations@ga-asi.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
New INRIX Parking Scorecard Reveals Cities with the Most Parking, Highest Prices, and Lowest Availability7.10.2026 23:16:00 EEST | Press release
INRIX, a leader in transportation analytics and mobility intelligence, today released its first-ever INRIX Parking Scorecard, the largest comparative analyses of downtown parking conditions across North America and Europe. Drawing on parking availability, curb regulations, pricing data and parking infrastructure from more than 120 downtown areas in 14 countries, the report reveals significant differences in parking conditions and how cities allocate curb space. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261007322796/en/ New INRIX Parking Scorecard: Where Downtown Parking Costs Most The Scorecard examines parking availability: the probability of finding a parking space alongside on-street and off-street parking pricing, and curb use policies. The findings show that parking conditions vary dramatically between cities, both overall and by time of day and day of the week, with implications for everything from the driver expe
Lattice Collaborates with Arm to Advance Secure, Adaptable AI Data Center Infrastructure7.10.2026 23:00:00 EEST | Press release
Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ: LSCC), the low power programmable and platform firmware leader, today announced a collaboration with Arm to enable secure control, management, and platform adaptability for AI infrastructure. Combining Arm® AGI CPU server platforms with Lattice FPGAs and AMI firmware creates a solution that provides advanced security, manageability, connectivity, and flexibility for next-generation AI data center infrastructure. In Arm AGI CPU server platforms, Lattice FPGAs work alongside the CPU and baseboard management controller, with AMI firmware providing platform boot and management capabilities. The Lattice FPGAs act as companion chips providing secure control and management capabilities, enabling platform trust, connectivity, and infrastructure adaptability. Lattice FPGA technology also enables Open Compute Project (OCP)-compliant connectivity between the Host Processor Module (HPM) and Datacenter Secure Control Module (DC-SCM) through the LVDS Tunneling Protocol
Bentley Systems Announces Winners of the 2026 Year in Infrastructure Awards7.10.2026 20:55:00 EEST | Press release
(The Bentley Systems 2026 Year in Infrastructure Event) – Bentley Systems, Incorporated (Nasdaq: BSY), the infrastructure engineering software company, today announced the winners of the 2026 Year in Infrastructure Awards. For more than 20 years, the awards have honored the extraordinary work of infrastructure professionals and their innovative use of Bentley software to improve how infrastructure is designed, built, and operated. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261007964087/en/ Bentley Systems announced the winners of the 2026 Year in Infrastructure Awards on October 7, 2026 (Photo courtesy of Bentley Systems) In 2026, over 300 projects were nominated by organizations in 53 countries. Winners were selected across 12 categories spanning the infrastructure lifecycle, industries, and disciplines by a panel of independent judges during the Bentley Systems 2026 Year in Infrastructure Event, held October 6-7 in Sin
Day One Strategy Founders Recognised in The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders for 20267.10.2026 20:00:00 EEST | Press release
Hannah Mann and Abigail Stuart, Co-Founders of Day One Strategy have been recognised as one of The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders for 2026. The programme was created by private equity investor LDC, part of Lloyds Banking Group, in partnership with The Times. Since 2018, it has celebrated the ambition and achievements of hundreds of exceptional entrepreneurs. This year The LDC Top 50 attracted more than 620 nominations from across the UK, highlighting the depth of ambition among leaders building successful businesses in every region and sector. The leaders featured are driven by an appetite for growth that is helping to build stronger, more sustainable businesses and a more competitive UK economy. They are expanding internationally, developing new products and services, challenging established markets and investing in their people. Together, their businesses generate £1.4bn in annual revenues and employ almost 8,500 people. Headquartered in 55 towns and cities, they demonstr
TestMu AI Adds Evidence Packs to Kane CLI, Turning Every AI Test Run into One Portable, Shareable File7.10.2026 17:29:00 EEST | Press release
TestMu AI (formerly LambdaTest), the Full Stack Agentic AI Quality Engineering platform, announced evidence packs for Kane CLI, its terminal-first tool for natural language browser and mobile app testing. Every Kane CLI run now produces one sealed .evidence file that holds the complete record of what the AI agent was asked to do, what it did at each step, and what happened. Kane CLI launched in April 2026, giving developers and AI coding agents a way to run tests on real browsers and mobile apps from the terminal, in plain English, with a clear pass-or-fail verdict. Since launch, it has added AI-powered test case generation and the Assurance Lifecycle, which ties tests back to requirement documents. Evidence packs are the next step: a full record of every run. As AI agents write and run more tests, engineering teams need a clear answer to a simple question: what exactly did the agent do, and why did the run pass or fail? That proof is often spread across screenshots, log folders, and d
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom