Monica Jackson
General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business flew an MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft Tuesday from Grand Forks, N.D., to a U.K. air force station located in Gloucestershire, England.
The company said Tuesday it used Inmarsat‘s SwiftBroadband L-band satellite communications system to manage the first trans-Atlantic flight of the medium-altitude, long-endurance RPA.
SkyGuardian will be presented at the three-day Royal International Air Tattoo airshow slated to kick off on Friday.
The British air force has used GA-ASI’s MQ-9 Reaper RPAs in different missions over the past decade and looks to procure MQ-9B or the military service’s PROTECTOR RG Mk1 program, General Atomics noted.
MQ-9B is an updated version of the Predator B platform.
