GA-ASI delivers MQ-9A Block 5 Extended Range UAV to USMC’s VMX-1

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) has delivered an MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to the US Marine Corps (USMC), the company announced on 29 April 2025.

The new MQ-9A Block 5 Extended Range (ER) UAV was delivered on 22 April and will be operated by Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VMX-1): a USMC operational test squadron based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona.

The new MQ-9A UAV will be used by the USMC to perform operational tests and evaluations, as well as to create Marine Aviation tactics, techniques and procedures through experimentation as the Marines fully implement the MQ-9A as a critical part of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) order of battle.

“The Marine Corps is building out its ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capabilities with this new aircraft,” GA-ASI President David R Alexander was quoted as saying in a company press release. “We are excited to see what VMX-1 does in terms of operational test in preparation for pushing new capabilities into the field.”

The MQ-9A ER is designed with field-retrofittable capabilities, such as wing-borne fuel pods and reinforced landing gear, that extend the aircraft’s endurance to more than 30 hours while further increasing its operational flexibility. It provides long-endurance, persistent surveillance capabilities, with full-motion video and synthetic aperture radar/moving target indicator/maritime mode radar. The MQ-9A ER is equipped with a fault-tolerant flight control system and a triple-redundant avionics system architecture to meet and exceed manned aircraft reliability standards, GA-ASI noted.

To date, GA-ASI has delivered 18 MQ-9A UAVs to the USMC, which awaits delivery of two additional aircraft by the end of 2025.

The USMC received its first MQ-9 Reaper in May 2023 under a joint procurement contract with the US Air Force.