General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) is collaborating with Lockheed Martin to provide a net-enabled weapons (NEW) capability for GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SeaGuardian medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), GA-ASI announced on 27 June 2024.
The addition of a NEW capability for SeaGuardian will bolster the intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting (ISR&T) capabilities of the aircraft.
The NEW technology provides expanded sensor targeting applications for the precision targeting of long-range weapons.
“The SeaGuardian’s demonstrated persistence, coupled with its vast array of precision targeting sensors, enables more efficient kill chains, especially in contested environments,” GA-ASI explained in a press release.
Using the SeaVue multi-role radar from Raytheon, GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SeaGuardian UAV will effectively leverage Lockheed Martin’s extensive NEW expertise to further refine targeting capabilities for future theatre deployments. Initial testing was completed on 5 June 2024, using F/A-18 fighters on the US Navy’s W-289 test range in Southern California.
GA-ASI and Lockheed Martin have been developing Link 16 messages to communicate with weapons inflight using the SeaGuardian Systems Integration Lab (SIL) in preparation for overwater range test flights.
“This is a very important system attribute for SeaGuardian to enable naval long-range targeting concepts of operation against high-end threats at much less risk to manned platforms,” GA-ASI president David R Alexander was quoted as saying in a GA-ASI press release. “We appreciate Lockheed Martin’s support in helping us prove out the NEW technology, which is an important component of our ISR&T capability.”
