General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has successfully tested an advanced datalink capability as part of a US Army-funded development effort to upgrade the MQ-1C GRAY EAGLE Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), the company writes in a press release.
The demonstration showed the ability of GE-ER to maintain link and support high bandwidth data rates with Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) Ku/Ka band satellites and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) Ka band satellites with common hardware and software. This is expected to allow the modernised GE-ER to conduct uninterrupted flight operations over multiple satellite constellations to support continuous operations in contested environments.
According to GA-ASI, advanced waveform capabilities were also tested during this event. Flight testing of the modernised GE-ER system is scheduled for fourth quarter 2022.
JH
