Kristen Smith
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. a $99.3 million sole-source, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to advance GHOST, which the Department of Defense described as “a hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial system.”
Work, including providing capabilities for operations in contested environments, will be performed at Poway, California, through Aug. 26, 2028, the DOD said Tuesday.
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General Atomics did not provide additional information about the stealth drone and the propulsion system paired with ducted fan technology.
“We’ve been promising something impressive related to hybrid-electric propulsion, and now I can’t talk about it anymore,” C. Mark Brinkley, a spokesperson for General Atomics, told The War Zone.
Propulsion System for MQ-9 Successor
The company previously unveiled work on a new propulsion technology, which was planned for use on MQ-Next, a modular wing-type drone concept General Atomics pitched as a successor to its MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle. The Air Force previously announced plans to stop buying MQ-9 over concerns about its capability to defeat adversaries in future high-end fights.
Mike Atwood, then senior director for advanced programs at GA-ASI, told Breaking Defense in 2022 about the work on the hybrid-electric propulsion system.
Atwood, who now serves as GA-ASI’s vice president for advanced programs, said at the time that GA was developing a new way to propel airborne air-breathing vehicles, with plans to unveil it in the coming years. “It uses a hybrid electric system where it’s basically a Tesla Model S and an RQ-170 got together and you have a fully electric aircraft,” Atwood added.
