General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) and Saab have completed flight tests pairing Saab's LoyalEye airborne early warning (AEW) radar with the MQ-9B uncrewed aircraft, demonstrating simultaneous tracking of multiple air and maritime targets. Trials ran over recent months from GA-ASI's Desert Horizon facility in Southern California, following an initial flight in May. Targets tracked during the latest test included instrumented fighter jets simulating adversaries alongside several commercial aircraft, with stakeholders able to observe the exercise in real time as a representative operational scenario.
The radar was carried externally on the MQ-9B via payload pods. The project aims to move AEW capability away from its traditional reliance on large crewed aircraft, instead exploiting the MQ-9B's long endurance to extend surveillance range and persistence while removing aircrew risk.
Because the platform is uncrewed, radar data can be routed to battle management command and control systems from varied infrastructure—ground stations, ships, or crewed early-warning aircraft—allowing the system to function either independently or in coordination with existing crewed AEW assets.
GA-ASI president David Alexander described the test as among the company's most anticipated, citing strong international interest in AEW on the MQ-9B. Saab's Carl-Johan Bergholm said LoyalEye is intended to complement, rather than replace, existing AEW&C systems. The MQ-9B family includes the SeaGuardian, SkyGuardian, the UK's Protector, and a carrier-capable short-take-off-and-landing variant in development. GA-ASI said it is in discussions with multiple customers regarding uncrewed AEW capability for the platform.
Source: Aerospace Testing International — read the original article