RCS - General Atomics Aero - UK Certifies Protector

Af Gruppen ASAAnnouncement

08/05/2025 18:00

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RNS Number : 9488H  General Atomics Aeronautical System  08 May 2025

UK Certifies Protector As First of Its Kind Remotely Piloted Aircraft

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA / ACCESS Newswire (https://www.accessnewswire.com/)  /
May 8, 2025 / The UK's Military Aviation Authority has issued a Military Type
Certificate to the Royal Air Force's Protector RG Mk1 uncrewed aircraft, also
designated the MQ-9B, certifying that it has passed a rigorous airworthiness
assessment and verifying it's safe to operate without geographic restrictions,
including over populous areas. This April 29 decision was a first-of-its-kind
milestone for a large, unmanned aircraft system. It's a huge accomplishment
for the UK and a technological watershed in the history of unmanned aircraft
systems. GA-ASI is the first manufacturer of large, unmanned aircraft to
receive an MTC based on rigorous compliance with STANAG 4671, the NATO
standard for unmanned aircraft system airworthiness.

Related Image
(https://cdn.nwe.io/files/x/b3/0c/3fba66d8ec9158197e14e01620dd.jpg)

Obtaining the MTC has been a goal of GA-ASI since the inception of the MQ-9B
in January 2014. The company took its proven UAS platform, the MQ-9A, and
added performance enhancing features while ensuring that the design was
capable of meeting NATO's STANAG 4671 Edition 2 airworthiness requirements. To
meet those rigorous requirements, the aircraft incorporates numerous
enhancements not found on other large UAS. These include lightning protection,
fire protection, anti-icing systems and a fatigue-and-damage-tolerant building
block design approach. All flight critical software was designed in compliance
with the rigor of Do-178/254. Mission software is rigidly separated from
flight critical software. These features not only address the aircraft's
airworthiness but also enhance its reliability and operational flexibility to
levels unmatched by other UAS.

"Earning an MTC for MQ-9B was a herculean effort and a seminal achievement for
our company," said GA-ASI CEO Linden Blue. "We invested over $500 million as
part of an 11-year effort to develop an unmanned aircraft that meets NATO's
rigorous airworthiness standards. This included three flight test aircraft,
full component and system-level environmental testing to Do-160 and
Mil-Standards (system level environmental testing at Elgin and Pax River),
full scale static test airframe test to ultimate ground and flight loads, bird
strike, hail protection and full-scale fatigue testing to three lifetimes (3x
40,000 notional aircraft flight hours = 120,000 hours total). Our engineers
developed over 140,000 pages of detailed technical data verifying that the
MQ-9B met those demanding requirements. I congratulate our team for this
outstanding accomplishment, and I know our customers need this type
certification, which will open civil airspace for their flight operations."

The Royal Air Force continues to take delivery of new Protector aircraft at
their home in the North of England at RAF Waddington. The UK has 10 aircraft
of the 16 it has ordered.

"Achieving the award of a first in class Military Type Certificate has
required years of dedication and perseverance and is a testament to the hard
work of all involved. It is a privilege to be the first to be awarded an MTC
for the Protector Air System," said Gp. Capt. Neil Venables, Type
Airworthiness Authority and holder of the Protector Type Certificate.

MQ-9B is the world's most advanced medium altitude, long endurance UAS. MQ-9B
includes the SkyGuardian(®) and SeaGuardian(®) models as well as the
Protector operated by the RAF.

In addition to the UK, GA-ASI has MQ-9B orders from Belgium, Canada, Poland,
Japan Coast Guard, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Taiwan, India, and the
U.S. Air Force in support of the Special Operations Command. MQ-9B has also
supported various U.S. Navy exercises, including Northern Edge, Integrated
Battle Problem, RIMPAC, and Group Sail.

About GA-ASI

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., is the world's foremost builder of
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Logging more than 8 million flight hours, the
Predator(®) line of UAS has flown for over 30 years and includes MQ-9A
Reaper(®), MQ-1C Gray Eagle(®) 25M, MQ-20 Avenger(®), and MQ-9B
SkyGuardian(®)/SeaGuardian(®). The company is dedicated to providing
long-endurance, multi-mission solutions that deliver persistent situational
awareness and rapid strike.

For more information, visit www.ga-asi.com
(https://stats.nwe.io/x/html?final=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5nYS1hc2kuY29tLw&sig=GVhCac9q5BDbgZNmplygGguqfPZI_ua7hhFEVwJxfA2QekNSTTziKgUS27VghTv5yYvW1XtC0n0XHCV6bIegYw&hit%2Csum=WyI0dzk5cGIiLCI0dzk5cGMiLCI0dzk5cGQiXQ)
.

Avenger, EagleEye, Gray Eagle, Lynx, Predator, Reaper, SeaGuardian, and
SkyGuardian are trademarks of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.,
registered in the United States and/or other countries.

# # #

Contact Information

GA-ASI Media Relations

asi-mediarelations@ga-asi.com

(858) 524-8101

SOURCE: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

 

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