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2024-05-03

SeaGuardian: Shields Fleets, Hunts Threats

The U.S. military is taking maritime operations to new heights with the deployment of the MQ-9B SeaGuardian unmanned aerial system (UAS). This advanced drone is the most capable long-endurance aircraft of its kind, designed to revolutionise anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and electronic warfare missions.

The SeaGuardian serves as a game-changer for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and their allies, providing critical support for carrier strike groups, surface action groups, amphibious ready groups, and international forces operating around the world.

It springs from the world’s most proven family of remotely piloted aircraft — the more than 1,000 Predator-series multi-mission aircraft that have logged over eight million operational hours, most of which were in combat.

While it stands on the foundation of all those predecessors and years of experience, the MQ-9B is a wholly new aircraft that represents the next generation of UAS.

It surpasses all others in its class, boasting larger size, extended flight endurance, greater coverage range, increased payload capacity, and superior capabilities. When integrated with Navy-Marine Corps commands and their allies, it becomes an invaluable force multiplier.

Seamless Integration

SeaGuardian breaks barriers by seamlessly integrating with regular air traffic. Equipped with a Detect and Avoid System, it meets stringent military and NATO standards while achieving civilian aviation certification.

Unlike its predecessors, it operates freely without requiring special airspace or escort aircraft. Operators handle it like a standard plane, simply filing a flight plan and taking off for enhanced maritime surveillance.

All-Weather Performance

The UAS is engineered to endure the toughest maritime weather conditions worldwide. Featuring an upgraded fatigue- and damage-tolerant airframe with a service life of 40,000 hours, it is equipped with state-of-the-art lightning protection and a de-ice/anti-ice system. In January and February 2023, GA-ASI demonstrated MQ-9B’s cold weather capabilities in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Naval Sensor Suite

The aircraft can support naval missions with its onboard suite of sensing and intelligence capabilities, enabling forces to see everything in the visual and infrared spectrum, including – with its onboard multi-mode radar – through clouds, fog, mist, or smoke, and hear across the radio frequency spectrum.

It can take on board any number of distinct payloads to support mission needs. A 360-degree surface search radar, for example, provides wide and detailed surface domain awareness.

Communications payloads let the aircraft serve as a key networking node. The MQ-9B is the only platform of its kind that can carry, release, and monitor sonobuoys — the platform that has revolutionised unmanned anti-submarine warfare.

Sponsored by the U.S. Navy, SeaGuardian has participated in some of its most complex and demanding integrated exercises.

In a major anti-submarine warfare exercise in May 2023, the aircraft, controlled remotely from a ground control station and operated via satellite, teamed up with U.S. Navy helicopter squadrons to search for submarines off the coast of Southern California.

Helicopter crews from San Diego deployed sonobuoys, after which SeaGuardian took charge of monitoring them. Shortly, SeaGuardian’s sensors detected a simulated submarine, allowing other helicopters to quickly respond to the scene armed with precise target data for interception.

Detect & Deter

SeaGuardian serves as an extension of a strike group’s surveillance capabilities, ensuring critical passages are clear of hostile units ahead of the main force.

It enhances the sensing and reach of larger manned maritime patrol aircraft, providing commanders with flexibility in air unit deployment. Utilising GA-ASI’s Optix+ geospatial intelligence software, units can task SeaGuardian and integrate its sensor data with real-time commercial traffic information to swiftly identify non-compliant vessels at sea.

In demonstrations and exercises spanning over three years, it has showcased seamless integration with U.S. Navy and international forces.

With a maximum endurance of approximately 30 hours in certain configurations, the aircraft delivers unparalleled intelligence to strike groups or commands, surpassing overhead assets in richness and quantity of data.

MQ-9B can detect and identify a vessel of interest, maintaining surveillance of the target for extended periods. Working collaboratively with other aircraft, navies or coast guard officials can monitor critical waterways or targets of interest for extended durations.

Budget-Friendly Option

SeaGuardian offers significant cost savings. The aircraft can provide roughly 80 per cent of the capability of a large human-flown maritime patrol aircraft at about 14 per cent of its cost per hour.

This cost efficiency allows navies to deploy it for extensive air or sea surveillance. If any points of interest are detected, a manned aircraft can then be directed, saving time, expenses, and reducing wear on resources.

Overall, the MQ-9B emerges as an exceptional counterpart to manned aircraft, boasting an impressive 86 per cent reduction in operating costs per hour.

This unmanned aircraft consumes 90 per cent less fuel than its manned counterparts with similar configurations and requires just half the personnel for operation.

Its efficacy has been demonstrated through its deployment in U.S. military drills, including Northern Edge, Integrated Battle Problem, and Group Sail .

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