The US Marine Corps has received its final MQ-9A Reaper Block 5 extended range (ER) uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI).
The UAV was delivered to the Gray Butte flight operations facility in California, marking the successful completion of a three-year acquisition campaign.
The MQ-9A is a multi-role, medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS designed to support a variety of missions, including ISR and maritime domain awareness.
The program team continues to integrate advanced capabilities onto the platform with the upgraded MQ-9A, with the SkyTower II airborne network extension pod on track to achieve initial operational capability (IOC) later this year.
The system will expand the US Marine Corps’ long-range mission in support of Force Design 2030 priorities and distributed maritime operations.
With 18 MQ-9As fielded to date and now two more on the way, this final delivery represents a major milestone for Marine Corps aviation.
“This program has been a model of how to do things right,” said Capt. Dennis Monagle , program manager for Multi-Mission Tactical UAS (PMA-266), whose office managed the acquisition effort.
“We leveraged a strong relationship with industry and the Air Force to move quickly, stay on schedule, and deliver advanced capability to the fleet with minimal friction. It’s been a very smooth process, proof that when the right teams align, we can move at the speed the Marines need.”