General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) announced the successful airborne demonstration of a radar warning receiver (RWR) on a GA-ASI Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper Block 5 aircraft. The company-owned Predator B operated from GA-ASI’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility near Palmdale, California, against various groundbased radars.

“The successful demonstration of a mature radar warning receiver on our company-owned Predator B clearly shows the utility of the aircraft in conducting missions in the proximity of threat radars and enemy air defences,” said Claudio Pereida, Executive Vice President, Mission Systems, GA-ASI. “We are pleased to be the first company to demonstrate this capability on a remotely piloted aircraft and hope to make it available to interested customers on a quick-reaction basis.”

The Raytheon ALR-69A RWR, carried within GA-ASI’s standard payload pod, provides enhanced situational awareness to aircrew and air element command and control units by identifying potential radar threats in or near “contested airspace” environments.

“The ALR-69A provides improved detection range and accurate, unambiguous identification in dense signal environments,” said Paul Overstreet, ALR-69A Program Manager, Raytheon. “Its open architecture is what allows it to operate on manned or unmanned aircraft.”