Matthew Nelson
General Atomics' aeronautical systems business demonstrated a beyond line-of-sight high-frequency command and control capability aboard an MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aircraft system Dec. 16.
GA-ASI developed and used an HF software adapter to showcase the technology's BLOS C2 features and manage throughput constraints and latency of the high-frequency waveform during the demo, the company said Thursday.
MQ-9A took off from Laguna Army Airfield in Arizona carrying a FlexRadio Systems-built FLEX-6600 HF software-defined transceiver and associated equipment to perform an autonomous operation.
GA-ASI also equipped the remotely piloted aircraft's open operational flight profile with the Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment autonomy software for the flight test.
The HF C2 technology can deliver BLOS connectivity of up to 8K miles without the need for a satellite communications link to help unmanned aerial vehicles navigate within contested areas.Â
