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
KILL IQM Named Among Quantum Collaborators in HPE's New Hybrid Quantum-HPC Platform23.6.2026 01:17:00 EEST | Press release
IQM Quantum Computersrequests that their press release NewsItemId: 20260622035759 “IQM Named Among Quantum Collaborators in HPE's New Hybrid Quantum-HPC Platform” be killed. The release was issued in error by IQM Quantum Computers. A replacement release will be issued at a later date.
One Biosciences Receives BOOST Funding From Paris-Saclay Cancer Cluster to Advance the First Single-Cell Assay Approach for ADC Therapies22.6.2026 23:15:00 EEST | Press release
One Biosciences, a techbio company pioneering clinical-grade single-cell tumor profiling, today announced financial support via a Paris-Saclay Cancer Cluster (PSCC) BOOST grant to develop the first single-cell assay for antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) therapies in oncology. The rapid growth of ADCs is driving demand for more sophisticated biomarker strategies. By capturing tumor complexity at cellular resolution, single-cell profiling has the potential to enhance patient selection and support the development of next-generation ADCs. Ultimately, it will help match the right patients to the right therapies, maximizing therapeutic benefit. The PSCC BOOST-funded project seeks to bring a new level of precision to ADC development. It will be conducted in collaboration with Adcytherix, a clinical-stage biotech company developing differentiated ADCs for cancers with high unmet medical need. The collaboration will combine Adcytherix’s expertise in ADC development with One Biosciences’ AI-powered
Interactive Brokers Expands AI Integration Capabilities – Adding ChatGPT and Grok to Its Growing Suite of Agentic Trading Tools22.6.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), an automated global broker, today announced the expansion of its agentic trading capabilities with the addition of ChatGPT and Grok, further broadening a growing ecosystem of AI platform integrations that began with Claude. Available through certified AI connector marketplaces across multiple leading platforms, these integrations allow clients to research, analyze, and generate instructions with speed and efficiency to uncover new trading and investing opportunities instantly. With this release, Interactive Brokers also extends the selection of products available for order instructions to include support for options, futures and futures options in addition to equities and ETFs. “We continue to see growing interest from investors in using artificial intelligence as a more natural way to interact with financial markets,” said Milan Galik, Chief Executive Officer of Interactive Brokers. “Adding ChatGPT and Grok, together with support for options and fut
IQM Named Among Quantum Collaborators in HPE's New Hybrid Quantum-HPC Platform22.6.2026 16:22:00 EEST | Press release
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has named IQM Quantum Computers among the companies collaborating on its hybrid classical-quantum computing platform, announced at HPE Discover Las Vegas. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260622035759/en/ IQM Radiance quantum computer at HPE Discover Las Vegas 2026 IQM, a global leader in full-stack superconducting quantum computers, is contributing superconducting quantum processor technology to the effort, in which HPE is integrating multiple quantum modalities with its Cray supercomputing infrastructure. This collaboration strengthens IQM's global expansion plans as the company prepares for its planned Nasdaq listing through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: RAAQ). For IQM, HPE's selection places the company at the center of one of the computing industry's most significant efforts to bring quantum and high-performance computing together, an integration widely rega
Return Abuse Goes Mainstream as Nearly Half of Consumers Use AI in Return Claims, New Riskified Research Finds22.6.2026 15:30:00 EEST | Press release
Riskified (NYSE: RSKD), a global leader in ecommerce fraud detection and risk intelligence, today released a new global report, “Rewriting the Rules on Returns”, exploring how consumer attitudes and behaviors around ecommerce returns are evolving in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The Riskified-commissioned study, conducted by eTail Insights, is based on a survey of 2,091 consumers across seven countries, alongside in-depth interviews with senior leaders from many of the largest retail companies in the world. The research finds that return abuse behaviors are increasingly normalized, while nearly half of consumers already use generative AI tools to assist with return or refund claims. At the same time, merchants are responding by tightening return policies, shortening return windows, and deploying advanced AI detection to better distinguish between legitimate behavior and abuse patterns. Key Findings Nearly half of consumers (50%) report using generative AI tools such as ChatG
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