Focus on Long-Range Sensors, Targeting and Air Launched Effects
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), demonstrated a suite of long-range sensors on its GRAY EAGLE Extended Range (ER) UAS in flight operations at Yuma Proving Grounds on 30 January, the company announced on 19 February.
The second in a series of demonstrations, GA-ASI partnered with industry to integrate best-of-breed long-range ISR payloads and air launched effects (ALE) on the aircraft, which showed a persistent stand-off capability with up to 40 hours of endurance that commanders can leverage to orchestrate forces in a multi-domain operations (MDO) environment.
During the flight, the UAS identified emitters while operating at 25,000ft, using the L3Harris RIO NINO lightweight COMINT payload, capable of detecting emitters out to 250km, cross-cueing the GA-ASI LYNX synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to produce precision coordinates sufficient for targeting within minutes. The flight activities were all controlled from a GA-ASI laptop-based Scalable Command and Control (SC2) system. Additionally, the aircraft carried two Area-I ALTIUS-600 ALEs. These will be launched and controlled through the UAS for the next flight demonstration this summer.
“The long-range radar, COMINT and ELINT packages, as well as launch and control of ALEs and the GBU-69B Small Glide Munition are all capabilities that are available today on the GRAY EAGLE ER,” commented David R Alexander, company President.