Stealth strike missile heading for MQ-9B drone family

General Atomics and Kongsberg have completed the first design reviews for integrating the Joint Strike Missile onto the MQ-9B, the uncrewed aircraft family that includes the RAF’s Protector, in a jointly funded effort to give the drone a long-range stealth strike capability, the companies have announced at the Farnborough International Airshow.

The System Requirements Review and Preliminary Design Review were successfully completed at Kongsberg in Norway on 30 June, according to the companies, with the design and integration project funded jointly by both firms rather than by a government customer, aimed at providing long-range strike for the MQ-9B and the growing list of nations that operate or have ordered it.

“We recognise the value JSM brings to our MQ-9B platform,” said Niki Johnson, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ Vice President for International Capture and Government Affairs, as quoted in the press release. “This integration effort shows how industry can effectively collaborate to integrate new capabilities and make them available quickly to our warfighters.”

The pairing puts a weapon designed for fifth-generation fighters onto a long-endurance drone, with the Joint Strike Missile a stealthy air-to-surface weapon developed from Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile for internal carriage in the F-35, engineered to evade advanced defence systems and strike high-priority targets on land and at sea at ranges of hundreds of kilometres. The missile has been selected by Norway, Japan, Australia, the United States and Germany, according to Kongsberg, and its arrival on the MQ-9B would let the drone threaten targets from well outside the reach of many air defences, addressing the survivability question that hangs over large, slow uncrewed aircraft in contested airspace.

“Having JSM integrated onto an uncrewed air platform – the MQ-9B – enables a highly capable strike mission set that can be employed in conjunction with or independently of piloted aircraft. This is an operational capability that we’re seeing greater interest in across the defence sector,” said Jens Gjestvang, Kongsberg’s Senior Vice President for Missiles and Aerostructures, as quoted in the release.