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2020-04-01

MQ-9B to Fly With Belgian Radomes

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) announced that it will be working with Belgium-based Sociétés Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aéronautiques (SABCA) to supply Satellite Communications (SATCOM) radomes for the MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA).

SABCA is one of GA-ASI’s team of Belgian suppliers, known as Team SkyGuardian Belgium, which will be providing content for all MQ-9B aircraft. The Government of Belgium has approved Belgian Defense to negotiate the acquisition of MQ-9B to meet the nation’s RPA requirements.

“We’re pleased to have SABCA as our supplier for MQ-9B SATCOM radomes,” said Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI. “This is a complex, major component of the MQ-9B airframe, subject to strict manufacturing process requirements characteristic of type-certified aircraft production. I’m confident that SABCA is up to the task.”

After being qualified by GA-ASI in 2019, SABCA has been officially awarded the production of the lightning-protected SATCOM radome for the worldwide fleet of MQ-9B. The production of the first radome will start in 2020 in SABCA’s Limburg facilities in Belgium.

“We are very proud to be part of the MQ-9B project and to add GA-ASI to our customer list,” said Thibauld Jongen, CEO of the SABCA group. “This is a recognition of SABCA’s expertise in complex composite structure and a first concretisation of our excellent partnership with GA-ASI.”

Multi-mission Capability

The MQ-9B SkyGuardian is the latest variant of the MQ-9 series RPAS currently operated by the U.S., United Kingdom, Italy, France, and soon Spain, The Netherlands and Belgium. MQ-9B adds several key enhancements to the proven MQ-9 series allowing for better performance, lower operating and sustainment costs and access to all classes of airspace.

MQ-9B is modular and can be easily configured with a variety of payloads to meet mission requirements. It is reportedly the world’s only RPAS certifiable to fly in non-segregated airspace. SkyGuardian is the result of a five-year, company-funded programme to deliver a RPAS that meets the stringent airworthiness requirements of NATO and various civil authorities.

As part of the certification effort, MQ-9B is provisioned with a GA-ASI-developed Detect and Avoid (DAA) system. The DAA system consists of a Due Regard Radar (air-to-air radar), coupled with a Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). Both MQ-9B SeaGuardian and SkyGuardian are capable of all-weather day/night operations. The cold weather engine start capability allows ground operations down to -41°C. MQ-9B is also equipped with an Electro-expulsive De-icing system (EEDS) for wing leading edges, anti-ice heated engine inlet, heated pitot tube and static ports, and lightning protection.

Interoperable with NATO, SkyGuardian’s multi-mission capability makes it a valued asset in a variety of scenarios – from environmental protection, to Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR), to Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), to Search and Rescue (SAR) and overland and overwater Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR).

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) is acquiring the MQ-9B as part of its Protector RG Mk1 programme and is scheduled for first delivery in this year. In December 2019, the Australian Government announced the selection of GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SkyGuardian for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) under Project Air 7003.

GA-ASI to Host Blue Magic Belgium

GA-ASI recently announced that it would host Blue Magic Belgium (BMB) again this year. Initiated in 2019, BMB is a GA-ASI industrial collaboration event held to identify Belgian technology companies interested in supporting the development of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian RPA.

This year’s BMB event will be held on April 21-22 at DronePort’s facilities in Sint-Truiden, Belgium. The Government of Belgium has approved Belgian Defense to negotiate for the acquisition of MQ-9B to meet the nation’s RPA requirements.

“GA-ASI’s commitment to providing the best available RPA technology to Belgian Defense means identifying and establishing relationships with companies across Belgium that can assist us with that effort,” said Blue. “Our inaugural BMB event last year introduced us to 19 great companies. Four of those companies are now part of Team SkyGuardian.”

As part of last year’s BMB, AeroSimulators Group (ASG), AIRobot, ALX Systems and Hexagon joined Team SkyGuardian, which already included these five Belgium companies: SABCA, Thales Belgium, ScioTeq, ST Engineering and DronePort.

The BMB event strives to increase the number of small and medium size Belgian companies that can provide research and development (R&D) and innovation to support GA-ASI. The company hopes to partner and potentially invest in Belgian companies with aerospace and defence technology capability that can provide support in different areas.

* For more information on BMB visit http://theomxevents.com/BlueMagicBelgium

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