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Air Force

General Atomics: AFSOC First U.S. Customer for MQ-9B

Frank Wolfe

Monday, March 6th, 2023

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General Atomics: AFSOC First U.S. Customer for MQ-9B

Pictured is an MQ-9B for the Japan Coast Guard (General Atomics Photo)

U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command has become the first domestic customer for the MQ-9B SkyGuardian--a follow-on to the renowned MQ-9A Reaper, General Atomics said on March 6. Under the contract, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) said that it will provide three MQ-9Bs to develop AFSOC's Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) concept, which relies heavily on artificial intelligence (AI). A2E "envisions AFSOC projecting air power for special operations forces from beyond the horizon, using a family of large UAS [unmanned…

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