Reaper drone receives radar warning receiver

A radar-warning receiver has been successfully flight-tested on an MQ-9 Reaper.

The Block 5 Reaper flew from General Atomic's Gray Butte facility near Palmdale, California, as part of a General Atomics internal research project. 

"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," according to a General Atomics news release.

"In various flight profiles, the pod was able to validate RWR [radar-warning receiver] performance which met or exceeded current thresholds for both air and ground radar threats," the company said. "Additionally, the RWR information to the flight crew was deemed useful for triggering flight crew action, such as manually cross-cueing to other onboard sensors to validate threat information."

Further tests later this year will include linking the receiver to the Link 16 tactical data network.

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