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PATHFINDER
THE MQ-9 YOU
DON’T KNOW
Thought you had it figured out? Better take another
look. The world’s workhorse UAS is adding a host of
upgrades designed to change the fight now and bring
the future faster.
A BREAKING DEFENSE
CUSTOM REPORT SPONSORED BY
SITREP
The Future of Unmanned ISR/Strike,
Available Today
Today’s complex age in global security is shaped by
rapid advances in technology with increased precision
and lethality. The power of battlespace information and
actionable knowledge has changed the character of
war, marking a revolution in how militaries ght. At the
forefront of this revolution is the ability to achieve what
the Oce of the Director of National Intelligence calls
“decision advantage.”
Battleeld success has always relied on good
intelligence, but today’s technology shift is ramping
up that need to levels unlike any seen before. Future
conicts will be decided in favor of the side that can
harness vast amounts of data, make quick sense of it,
and respond faster than the adversary. A critical piece
to achieving decision advantage is possessing sensing
capability that has capacity, exibility, and range. It is
the ability to rapidly process data, share information,
locate targets and — upon decision — act swiftly. Do it,
and do it now.
To see what the future looks like, one must only
examine the MQ-9A Reaper, the longtime workhorse
unmanned aerial system (UAS) used daily by the U.S.
military and its allies worldwide. While many view
the MQ-9A strictly through the lens of an ISR/strike
platform suitable for the counter-VEO (violent extremist
organization) ght in a permissive or uncontested
airspace environment, the reality is that this prized
platform also represents the vision of future UAS,
oering signicant but still not-yet-fully exploited
opportunity in today’s ght and tomorrow’s threat.
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, Jr., commander, U.S. Central
Command, addressed this in his testimony early in 2020
before the Senate Armed Services Committee: “For
me it comes down to a platform, and that platform is
the MQ-9. That is the platform of choice in the Central
Command Area of Responsibility. It is a platform that
can gather intelligence, it can strike, and it can do all
kinds of things. It is a jack of all trades, and I would
prefer to not divest that resource.”
That platform of choice is only getting better, with a
host of upgrades and congurations poised to push the
MQ-9A Reaper that so many know and trust into areas
and missions not yet seen, with the potential to save
billions of dollars in mission costs and manpower. When
it comes to UAS, the future is here and available now.
– Barry Rosenberg, Contributing Editor
Technology & Special Projects
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Demand for Unmanned
Modern warfare was revolutionized in the mid-1990s with
the introduction of UAS such as the MQ-1 Predator, which
let militaries hunt targets from afar with persistence and
precision never before seen. Built by General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), the Predator’s armed
follow-on, the MQ-9A Reaper, led the next revolution in
warfare as the world’s most important hunter-killer UAS
designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance,
and lethal real-time response.
Shown is the heritage of General Atomics' platforms from the MQ-1
Predator to the MQ-9A Reaper to the MQ-9B SkyGuardian.
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) operates approximately
200 MQ-9A Reapers. The battleeld eects it
provides through persistent intelligence, surveillance,
reconnaissance (ISR) and close-air support abilities
across continent-size areas makes it a highly sought
after asset. It ies 11 percent of total Air Force ying
hours, at only 2.6 percent of the USAF’s total ying
hour cost. No other AF asset comes close to ying so
many hours at so little a cost. It has a demonstrated 90
percent mission-capable rate, which is the percentage
of time that a specic platform can complete its mission.
No other USAF asset can report this extraordinary
mission capable rate which is signicant given that it
ies sorties 3 to 4 times longer than any manned asset,
unrefueled, and the eet in total amasses ~300,000
hours annually – something no other USAF aircraft can,
or has done. In contrast, the Air Force’s 2019 missioncapable rates for fth-generation ghters (F-22 and
F-35) and bombers (B-1, B-2, B-52) were just above 70
percent, Breaking Defense reported in May 2020.
The demand for GA-ASI’s Predator-series of Remotely
Piloted Aircraft (RPA)—which includes the Predator, Reaper
(also known as the Predator B), MQ-1C Gray Eagle, Avenger
(Predator C), and MQ-9B SkyGuardian/SeaGuardian
(Predator B) lines—is demonstrated daily through the
accumulation of ight hours. As of October 2019, they
had cumulatively surpassed six million ight hours and
completed 430,495 total missions. Approximately 90
percent of those missions were own in combat.
In addition, these RPAs average more than 60,000 ight
hours per month supporting the USAF, U.S. Army, U.S.
Marine Corps, U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
NASA, the Italian Air Force, the UK Royal Air Force, the
French Air Force, the Spanish Air Force, the UAE Armed
Forces, and other customers.
Immediate-Future Technology:
Rapid Development with Low Risk
While UAVs have largely been used for intelligence
gathering and airstrikes over the past two decades
in the counterterrorism ght, new technologies are
opening up more possibilities for diverse missions built
on those own by the MQ-9A Reaper. New ideas for use
of unmanned aircraft — such as using advanced UAS
as low-cost attritable wingmen supporting manned or
unmanned platforms, building swarm-capable UAVs,
incorporating stealthier and smaller UAS designs, and
employing articial intelligence and automation — are
part of future-force discussions to meet the Great Power
challenges we’re seeing today from Russia and China.
To get there, the Air Force has appropriately embraced a
continuous capability development and delivery concept
aimed at rapid prototyping to get new capabilities out to
operating forces sooner. Through an “immediate-future”
orientation that uses the proven Reaper platform as a base
for further innovation and modernization, the Air Force can
address these future-force designs and continue to utilize
the MQ-9A into the 2040s without skipping a beat.
Leveraging the MQ-9 in the role of “rst mover” to
on-ramp future unmanned prototype capabilities
provides a readily available path to help accelerate the
development and integration of new technology that
will not only improve today’s capabilities, but also buy
down risk and development of future capabilities at
the same time. This would give the USAF and others
critical decision and budgetary space to develop
and aordably procure next-generation unmanned
platforms, while giving today’s warghter much needed
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new capabilities and operational exibility to deal
with near-peer competition sooner rather than later.
A variety of new MQ-9A capabilities already in
development will provide signicant increase in
operational exibility. These include:
• Expanded automatic takeo and landing
capability for divert landings
• Increased maximum landing weight
• Expanded cross-wind limits of the aircraft
• External fuel pods to extend mission range
• Beyond line-of-sight and satellite communications
data link control for greater data downloads and
onboard data processing for faster response with
human involvement.
• Laptop-based launch and recovery from
expeditionary airelds eliminating forward based
aircrew, maintenance and support personnel
• Multi-mission control which permits one pilot to
control up to six (6) aircraft
The MQ-9A already possesses all the attributes
that future UAS will need for the next ght. Future
warghting will require UAS to have endurance and
range to get to targets, to have advanced sensing
capabilities to nd targets, the ability to either strike
or pass targeting information to others, and to also be
able to operate with and around manned platforms.
GA-ASI is rapidly delivering such operationally ready
solutions now for the MQ-9A that keeps pace with
the ever-changing threats. By doing so, the company
is helping to reduce development risk for next-
generation capabilities, so that elded forces can prove
operational concepts, develop tactics/techniques/
procedures, and train for future operations today.
The MQ-9A has the size, endurance, and payload capacity to deliver operationally
ready solutions that keep pace with evolving threats.
Expanding Roles and
Mission Aperture
Beyond simply a tactical ISR/strike platform, the MQ-9A’s
characteristics of automation, range, persistence, payload
capacity, and aordability position it as an essential tool
for the rapidly developing Great Power challenges.
“It’s incorrect to look at the MQ-9A as a legacy program
that’s not going to be useful in the future, when the
reality is, in my mind, the future is happening now,” said
Chris Pehrson, Vice President of Strategic Development,
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
“Day One of the Great Powers competition is already
occurring. We can’t wait 10 years until a conict is upon us
to develop something new. All the capabilities that we may
need in 2030 can be developed and honed well ahead of
time with the MQ-9A ideally suited to that role,” said Pehrson,
noting that the Air Force’s Reaper replacement program
called the Next Generation UAS ISR/Strike Platform isn’t
expected to reach initial operating capability until 2031.
The MQ-9A’s size, endurance, and payload capacity
enables it to integrate new leap-ahead technologies
at the lowest cost and quickest path. Its capacity
and ability to be digitally interoperable and rapidly
recongurable provides multiple operational and
demonstration roles on a single platform.
The MQ-9 is a proven platform, as well as a technology
testbed especially suited to the Great Power competition.
This is being demonstrated by a long string of cockpit,
platform, weapon, and sensor improvements that are
being integrated today for combat operations.
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The force-multiplying potential of the MQ-9A gives military
planners operational exibility to ensure that forward-
deployed forces are prepared to respond decisively in a
variety of ways. This includes the MQ-9’s capability to be
digitally interoperable and rapidly recongured, which oers
planners multiple operational roles on a single platform. In
addition, the MQ-9’s 1,500-pound, single-pylon payload
capacity and 45 kW of power give it the capacity to host the
latest generation of active and passive sensor technology
to provide stando wide-area surveillance on par with
that of other ISR platforms, such as the manned E-8 Joint
Surveillance Target Attack Radar System.
Supporting the Future
Security Environment
Like many other assets, the MQ-9A is not a low-observable
weapon system designed for highly contested areas.
However, those rst hours of “hot” conict are just the rst
escalation in the spectrum of confrontation, which ranges
from vital stages of detection and deterrence to active
engagement in contested combat.
The MQ-9A can be a particularly valuable asset to deter
what’s known as “gray zone” aggression. This is where
Chinese, Russian, Iranian, and other countries “coerce or
compel others using ambiguous forces (through) use of
unattributed military forces, island building, and the use
of proxy forces,” according to the Center for Strategic &
International Studies.
The MQ-9A is ideally suited to help deter peer
aggression through what’s called “deterrence by
detection” in the initial contact phase, because of its
unmatched mission endurance and capacity to carry
a variety of high-TRL (Technology Readiness Level)
stando wide-area surveillance sensors that are well
suited for gray zone operations.
Properly equipped and properly employed with the
right concept of operations, the MQ-9A can provide
aordable 24/7 coverage of targeted territory, notably
without risk to U.S. personnel. While doing so it can
verify urgent intelligence in a disputed area in a non-
intimidating, observable manner — just as it does today.
As such, the MQ-9 provides operational commanders
great latitude in achieving their intelligence objectives
within acceptable risk boundaries.
The increased warning time delivered by MQ-9As can
help mitigate the U.S.’ time-distance disadvantage in
remote parts of the world, thereby giving U.S. forces,
allies, and partners time to eectively marshal combat
power to prevent aggression.
The MQ-9’s modular open architecture lets the platform rapidly accommodate numerous dierent payloads.
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Improving Survivability
and Automation
When it comes to survivability, many are surprised
to learn the MQ-9 is successful despite an obvious
vulnerability: unlike virtually every asset headed into
harm’s way, the MQ-9 has amassed millions of hours in
combat without any protective measures against enemy
missiles or other counter-UAS systems.
GA-ASI is working to reduce this exposure as the
aircraft nds itself in increasingly tough situations,
investing in survivability research and development
over the past decade to assess operations across the
entire kill chain. The result is the rst self-protection
pod purpose-built for its UAVs, as part of a Cooperative
Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)
with U.S. Special Operations Command. These
countermeasures will enable operations in higher-threat
environments, including regions where MQ-9As have
been previously shot down or engaged with anti-aircraft
weapons systems.
Survivability is more than just having defensive
systems, however. It is also about being able to conduct
expeditionary operations from non-xed locations to
disrupt targeting by adversaries. Access to smaller
runways and unimproved surfaces opens up the number
of available locations for temporary, permanent, and divert
MQ-9A operations. From a 3,500-foot runway, a small
team can launch and recover a properly equipped MQ-9A
using laptops and portable communications gear.
Onboard automation and exible-basing technologies allow
the MQ-9A to disaggregate and reposition faster than an
adversary can counter, which is a strategy in alignment with
the Pentagon’s 2018 National Defense Strategy objectives.
To reduce the manpower footprint required to operate
MQ-9As from small and austere locations, the company
has developed automation capabilities such as Automatic
Takeo and Landing Control (ATLC), autonomous taxi and
taxi via satellite communications, as well as automated
aircraft start and shutdown. This automation also plays a
vital role when moving aircraft from base to base, and in
rapidly shifting operations to maintain unpredictability and
increase survivability of launch-and-recovery systems.
“(The MQ-9) is a jack of all trades, and I would prefer to not divest that resource,”
said Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, Jr., commander, U.S. Central Command.
New USAF Enhancements
for Reaper
As part of the ongoing U.S. Air Force contract for MQ-9A
Reaper modernization, GA-ASI demonstrated in June three
expanded ATLC enhancements that provide the MQ-9A
with a dramatic increase in operational exibility. One
enhancement enables the Reaper to land under SATCOM
control at an alternate or divert aireld in which no ground
control station is present. Such capability ensures mission
eectiveness in case of inclement weather, changing
mission requirements, or damaged runways.
The second enhancement expands the cross-wind
limits of the MQ-9A. The third increases the maximum
landing weight for normal and emergency landings.
“All three enhancements provide MQ-9A aircrews with
increased runway options, as well as expanded weather
tolerances that greatly improve mission exibility,
operational availability and time on station. It will also
lead to a substantial reduction in aircrew,” said GA-ASI
President David Alexander.
For operations from airelds close to the battlespace, UAS
platforms will need jam-resistant GPS receivers and nonGPS navigation solutions such as vision-based systems.
This will oer the ability to survey potential runways from
the air, including divert and emergency unimproved landing
locations, to create an automatic landing prole for the UAS,
all of which has been already incorporated into the MQ-9A,
but has yet to have corresponding military Tactics, Training,
and Procedures (TTP’s) to fully implement.
Injecting system automation into the portable control
unit will allow the Air Force to remove rated pilots and
sensor operators at forward operating locations, creating
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a more agile and low-risk scenario. GA-ASI has proven
such ATLC capabilities over nearly two decades and has
accumulated 119,000 such takeos and landings. ATLC
improvements currently in development ight test include
SATCOM-only Launch and Recovery Element (LRE)
operations that are scheduled to eld in 2022.
In SATCOM-denied environments, GA-ASI is adding
automated taxi capability to complement ATLC.
Automated ground operations with future taxiing designs
based on self-driving automotive technology will enable
operations when lacking access to satellite datalinks.
Full expeditionary launch and recovery operations
including laptop pre-ight, beyond line of sight taxiing,
and automatic takeo and landing were demonstrated
during ight tests in late 2018 as part of the UK Protector
program (the UK version of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian).
These capabilities are bought and paid for by the USAF
and will be elded with AFSOC MQ-9’s in early 2021. The
entire non-AFSOC MQ-9 eet should be equally equipped
to ensure the USAF maintains dominance in UAS
operational employment.
These capabilities make the MQ-9A suited for the adaptive
basing and “agile combat employment” initiatives
being considered for future combat. Such agile combat
employment capabilities, as they’re being called by the
DoD, were also recently demonstrated during the recent
USAF deployment of two MQ-9A Reapers to Estonia.
“Clearly there’s still a demand signal out there from
the Combatant Commands to have those types of
capabilities,” said Air Force Gen. Jerey Harrigian,
commander of both U.S. Air Forces in Europe and
NATO Allied Air Command, speaking to the Washington,
D.C.-based Defense Writers Group in June.
“The Estonian MQ-9 deployment really is one of our initial
steps in demonstrating the agility of our MQ-9 capability
from an agile combat employment perspective. As we
looked at what was frankly a runway closure in Poland
where we typically operated, I wanted to use this as an
opportunity to quickly move the capability to another
location that would aord us opportunities to not only better
assist in a rapid fashion, but at the same time allow us to
gain exposure and operating [experience] up in the Baltics.”
Bring the Future Faster
through Automation
The capability that Harrigian demonstrated in the Baltics is
facilitated by GA-ASI’s Software Dened Control System
(SDCS) along with associated applications. They’re
designed to move UAS platforms from man-in-the-loop to
man-on-the-loop conguration, where operators let the
platform make basic decisions on its own and only provide
oversight. While there is a person to give the aircraft
tasking orders and to receive information, the aircraft is
capable of making many mission-related decisions on its
own without procedural human intervention.
One of the most valuable applications being developed
as part of SDCS is called Multi-Mission Control (MMC).
It enables one pilot to manage up to six MQ-9As
conducting benign, routine missions.
“When you place the MMC in the context of the Air
Force’s continuing need for pilots, we’ve developed a
new MQ-9A-related technology that can address that
need by reducing the number of operators required,”
said Pehrson.
GA-ASI partnered with Air Force Special Operations
Command to develop MMC under a CRADA. Over
the next 24 months this team will continue to rene
systems requirements, execute ight tests, and
complete an Operational Assessment. GA-ASI
estimates that manpower savings from MMC would pay
for the program in one year, saving approximately $700
million over the lifetime of the program.
In late 2020, GA-ASI plans to demonstrate autonomous
ight through use of software auto-routers integrated onto
the aircraft. Under minimal supervision from a trained
pilot, the air vehicle will y routes through tasks assigned
by an external entity. This will be accomplished through
a tactical datalink to demonstrate interoperability with
existing DoD networks and systems. The autonomous
ight demonstrations will leverage the DARPA
Collaborative Operations in Denied Environments (CODE)
framework for collaborative UAS operations.
Additionally, to address the greater speed and intensity
of Multi-Domain Operations that is poised to overwhelm
today’s ISR Command and Control and Processing,
Exploitation, and Dissemination construct, GA-ASI has
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teamed with the Joint Articial Intelligence Center’s
Project Maven team to use the MQ-9 to harness
the power of AI at the edge to create a pathway to
collaborative, multi-domain, and AI-powered mission
tasking, sharing and operations. These eorts are
aimed at xing the complex, manpower intensive
domain of ISR collection management, analysis and
intelligence product dissemination. They will not only
shift the burden from airman to machine/AI, but will
eventually lead to fully autonomous ISR operations.
The Takeaway
After two decades of experience and over six million
ight hours, the vast majority in combat, GA-ASI
is leaning forward to achieve the next leap in UAS
capability for warghters by modernizing its MQ-9
platform with new critical capabilities for both the anti-
terrorist ght and the Great Power competition.
The proven MQ-9A Reaper is unparalleled as a platform
for innovation and checks all the boxes for what the
USAF is looking for in a Next-Generation UAS ISR/
Strike Platform: exibility, modularity, open systems,
endurance, persistence, autonomy, and aordability
from the standpoint of operations and manpower. The
exact conguration of what a potential “MQ-Next”
might look like is still in the study phase, but it’s clear
that many of those future attributes exist today or
are on a development trajectory that will see them
introduced soon on the MQ-9A.
The Reaper bridges the past as it helps to build the
USAF vision for an ISR/strike platform of the future.
The MQ-9A is showing us today what the future of an
unmanned ISR/strike platform can accomplish.
The open architecture of General Atomics’ operations center enables collaborative, reliable, and secure mission planning and execution to rapidly
accommodate future growth requirements while reducing manpower.
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Three Ways the MQ-9 is Expanding
Roles and Mission Aperture
In an era of declining budget resources, the need
for aordable operational concepts and capabilities
is more important than ever. The most vital asset the
Air Force possesses is airmen, not hardware. The Air
Force needs each airman to perform essential duties as
it defends America and prepares for peer competition.
GA-ASI has developed automated capabilities that
enable the Air Force to free up critical pilots, maintenance
personnel and others needed to ll critical positions for
tomorrow’s ght.
The force-multiplying potential of the MQ-9A provides operational
exibility to ensure the Air Force is prepared to respond decisively
in a variety of ways. The following are examples:
Operational Flexibility
1
● REAP - GA-ASI is delivering resilient communications via two gateway relay pods called Rosetta Echo
Advanced Payload (REAP) and Freedom. These pods provide essential communications in contested
airspace for ghter aircraft and other platforms so they can seamlessly communicate through Intra-Flight
Datalink, Multifunction Advanced Data Link, Link 16, and Tactical Targeting Network Technology.
● Lynx Radar - GA-ASI has improved its Lynx radar’s long-range targeting capability, which expands the 3D
targeting range from 50 km to 140 km. It provides a modular solution that provides Synthetic Aperture Radar
(SAR), GMTI/Dismount Moving Target Indicator (DMTI), Velocity SAR (for ocean surveillance), Maritime Wide
Area Search (MWAS), and Inverse SAR.
- Lynx’s MWAS mode detects ship and boat trac in various sea state conditions. It also integrates
Automated Identication System (AIS) information for target correlation and identication
- Ground/Dismount Moving Target Indicator – The GMTI mode provides a quick and easy method for
locating moving vehicles. While the GMTI mode continues to be a crucial resource, DMTI marks a real
paradigm shift. DMTI allows operators to detect very slow moving vehicles and personnel (dismounts)
moving at about 1 mph.
● SOAR Pod - The Scalable Open Architecture Reconnaissance (SOAR) pod enables standoff surveillance.
Manufactured by L3Harris and integrated on the MQ-9A by GA-ASI, it incorporates the latest Electronic
Support Measures (ESM) sensor technology derived from strategic, manned ISR platforms. This provides
secure, full-spectrum, long-range electronic surveillance, improved communications intelligence (COMINT)
and electronic intelligence (ELINT) detection range and accuracy. The pod is currently undergoing evaluation
by U.S. European Command.
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Survivability
2
● Self-Protect Pod - GA-ASI is developing the rst self-protection pod purpose-built for its UAVs as part of
a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with U.S. Special Operations Command.
This innovative countermeasure system will be compatible with the MQ-9A and the U.S. Army’s MQ-1C
Gray Eagle. The system is composed of infrared and radio frequency defeat technologies found on current
4th generation aircraft such as F-15s, F-16s, and F/A-18s. It features proven and DoD-sustained Aircraft
Survivability Equipment (ASE) and is capable of expending IR ares, RF cha, and Digital RF Memory (DRFM)
countermeasures. The ASE is managed through both semi-automatic and fully automatic modes with real-time
situational awareness provided to the MQ-9A aircrew.
● DAA System - The Detect and Avoid (DAA) System consists of GA-ASI’s Due Regard Radar (DRR) and
processor, and a Trac Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). GA-ASI’s DAA system also enables safe
access to uncontrolled airspace and will comply with Due Regard procedure when operating in international
airspace.
- The all-weather capable DRR tracks non-cooperative aircraft and enables a collision avoidance capability
onboard the RPA, which allows the pilot to separate the aircraft from other air trac in cooperation with Air
Trac Control (ATC).
Autonomy
3
● ATLC - To reduce the manpower footprint required to operate MQ-9As from small and austere locations, the
company has developed automation capabilities such as Automatic Takeo and Landing Capability (ATLC),
autonomous taxi and taxi via satellite communications, and automated aircraft start and shutdown. This
automation also plays a vital role when moving aircraft from base to base, and in rapidly shifting operations to
maintain unpredictability and increase survivability of launch-and-recovery systems.
● SDCS - The Software Dened Control System (SDCS) and with its associated applications are designed to
provide UAS platforms with stand-o, stand-in capabilities allowing the platform to make decisions on its
own. SDCS includes multiple automation applications to reduce manpower while improving survivability and
communication between software and operators.
- Multi-Mission Control (MMC) - It enables one pilot to manage up to six MQ-9As conducting benign, routine
missions. Such missions would include orbit management, transit operations, automated collection, and
non-full-motion-video-centric missions that enable electronic support measures, communications nodes, and
other wide area surveillance such as GMTI.
- Portable Aircraft Control System (PACS) laptop allows a forward-deployed maintainer to use the laptop
to employ automated preight and post-ight checklists that reduce setup times by up to 50 percent. It also
reduces the airlift requirements by eliminating the need for a forward-deployed Ground Control Station (GCS).
Breaking Defense thanks General Atomics for their support of this Pathfinder custom report.
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