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
UNIQA Unifies Customer Risk Intelligence Across 14 Countries with SymphonyAI Financial Crime Compliance Platform23.6.2026 08:07:00 EEST | Press release
UNIQA Insurance Group, one of Austria's and Europe's leading insurers, has selected the financial crime compliance platform from SymphonyAI, a global leader in Vertical AI, to unify customer due diligence (CDD) across its Central and Eastern European footprint. With operations spanning 14 countries and approximately 17 million customers, UNIQA brings one of the most complex compliance environments in the region to a single, centralized intelligence layer. Building for complexity, not around it UNIQA sought a CDD capability that matched the complexity of a pan-European insurer: one that could classify customers across risk categories consistently, keep pace with a shifting regulatory landscape across Central and Eastern Europe, and scale across diverse markets without requiring country-by-country customization. UNIQA selected SymphonyAI following a competitive evaluation in which speed of implementation and insurance-specific domain depth were the decisive criteria. Most financial crime
Lenovo Recognized in the Gartner® Supply Chain Top 25 for 202623.6.2026 07:00:00 EEST | Press release
Lenovo has once again been ranked in the Gartner® Supply Chain Top 25 for 2026, achieving its highest-ever ranking at seventh globally. The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 is a renowned annual ranking of the world’s superior supply chains. Now in its 22nd year, the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 identifies, celebrates and profiles excellence in supply chain management. Supply chain teams use the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 to benchmark performance, transform operations and lead in the future.Lenovo ranked eighth in 2025, 10th in 2024, and eighth in 2023. AI Builds Greater Supply Chain Resilience Global supply chains have faced unprecedented disruption over the past 12 months, driven by tariffs, component shortages, and geopolitical tensions. Lenovo’s strength amid these challenging circumstances has been its ability to build on its AI infrastructure behind its global supply chain, improving resilience, adaptability and execution at speed and scale. Over the past year, Lenovo has evolved its S
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
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