General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has announced that it successfully demonstrated its latest Automatic Takeoff and Landing Capability (ATLC) using a Satellite Communications (SATCOM) data link for its MQ-9B SkyGuardian/SeaGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA). The demonstration also included the first SATCOM taxi of the MQ-9B.

GA-ASI says that with this capability, there will no longer be a need for a ground control station and pilot/flight crew to be located at the aircraft’s base, which will significantly reduce airlift requirements when the RPA is “forward deployed.”

Conducted in December 2017, the demonstrations used GA-ASI’s capital MQ-9B SkyGuardian. The supervisory crew and Ground Control Stations (GCS) operated out of GA-ASI’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Center near Palmdale, California. The aircraft was flown out of Laguna Army Airfield near Yuma, Arizona.

During the demonstrations, the team successfully taxied the aircraft and initiated six auto takeoff and landing events, using just a SATCOM datalink.

“MQ-9B is continuing its momentous development, which now includes SATCOM taxi, takeoff, and landing capability,” says David R. Alexander, president, Aircraft Systems, GA-ASI.

“When we partnered with the RAF to develop the world’s most advanced RPA, we identified SATCOM ATLC and SATCOM taxi as important safety and efficiency features, and we’re proud to have demonstrated it successfully using one of our capital aircraft.”

SATCOM ATLC enables taxi, launch and recovery operations from anywhere in the world, and will ultimately reduce required aircrew manpower and LRE footprints. Trained RPA aircrew are only required at the mission control element GCS location, which lowers the overall operating cost of the RPA.

SATCOM ATLC also enables rapid self-deployment of aircraft to any global runway with a GPS surveyed file.

The SATCOM-only Launch and Recovery Element (LRE) operations capped off another successful year for MQ-9B development, GA-ASI says. In May 2017, an endurance flight of more than 48 hours was conducted. A few months later in August, the first FAA-approved flight for a RPA in non-segregated airspace was flown.

GA-ASI says that the MQ-9B will become the “first RPA with SATCOM LRE functions” when the MQ-9B PROTECTOR is delivered to the UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) in the early 2020s.