20 Years After First Flight, General Atomics Reimagines MQ-9 Role

U.S. Air Force MQ-9
A well-armed MQ-9 flew into the sunset over the Nevada Test and Training Range in January 2020, as the fleet was being prepared to transition to an era of national defense priorities.
Credit: Airman 1st Class William Rio Rosado/U.S. Air Force
Neal Blue’s original idea for what became the feared MQ-9 Reaper was not an armed unmanned aircraft system at all, or even a military reconnaissance platform. The founder of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) instead proposed in the late 1990s a new turboprop-powered and medium...

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