General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. will integrate Saab’s sensors into its line of MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft under a strategic partnership between the two companies on the development of an unmanned aerial early warning, or UAEW, system. The collaboration’s goal is to deliver a monitoring system for continuous surveillance and situational awareness in designated areas, Saab said Monday.
The company noted that the partnership’s UAEW, medium-range in its design, will offer customers a wider range of operating options, such as initiating missions from navy vessels, deployment as a standalone platform or teaming up with manned systems. The collaborative system with GA-ASI is geared to complement Saab’s existing portfolio of manned aerial warning and control systems, including GlobalEye.
Earl Warning Applications on MQ-9B Variants
In a separate statement on the partnership Sunday, GA-ASI said the collaboration’s UAEW and control capability will be provided to several MQ-9B variants. It will be integrated into the SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian models, the United Kingdom’s Protector, and the new MQ-9B short takeoff and landing, or STOL, model that GA-ASI is currently developing. According to GA-ASI, it plans to launch the MQ9Bs with UAEW capability in 2026.
Carl-Johan Bergholm, Saab’s senior vice president and head of Business Area Surveillance, said the UAEW collaboration deploys both partners’ core competencies. He conveyed optimism that the system will complement the company’s aerial early warning and control system offerings, noting that it can “provide customers with yet another cutting-edge capability.”
David Alexander, GA-ASI president, pointed out that the UAEW partnership is “developing an affordable” system against high- and low-tech threats to global air forces. The collaboration’s offering “will transform our customers’ operations against both sophisticated cruise missiles and simple but dangerous drone swarms,” the company executive added.