This image shows the Royal Air Forcess (RAF) newest aircraft, Protector RG Mk1, a remotely piloted aircraft system aircraft conducting its first flight in the UK skies from RAF Waddington on 17th November, marking another important milestone in the delivery of the surveillance, intelligence, and precision strike aircraft to the front line. The first of 16 remotely piloted Protector aircraft arrived at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire in September and is undergoing a series of rigorous trials and tests before entering the RAF fleet. Capable of operating across the world with a minimal deployed footprint and remotely piloted from RAF Waddington, it can operate at heights up to 40,000 feet with an endurance of over 30 hours. Protector, the largest and most advanced remotely piloted aircraft flown in UK airspace, successfully taxied and flew a series of circuits around RAF Waddington airfield, at all times under the control of a pilot through a ground-based advanced cockpit. Equipped with a suite of surveillance equipment, the Protector aircraft will bring a critical global surveillance capability for the UK, all while being remotely piloted from RAF Waddington. In addition to accepting the Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) roles currently undertaken by Reaper, which has provided exceptional service on operations around the clock for more than 15 years, Protector will be certified to stringent NATO safety and certification standards allowing it to operate in the UK and European civilian airspace. Arrival of 15 further aircraft from General Atomics in the US into the UK will be a phased delivery over the coming years. All aircraft are expected to be delivered and in-service by Jul 2025.

UK CERTIFIES PROTECTOR AS FIRST OF ITS KIND REMOTELY PILOTED AIRCRAFT

9 May 2025 Simon Barker

The UK’s Military Aviation Authority has issued a Military Type Certificate to the Royal Air Force’s Protector RG Mk1 uncrewed aircraft, also designated the MQ-9B, certifying that it has passed a rigorous airworthiness assessment and verifying it’s safe to operate without geographic restrictions, including over populous areas. This April 29 decision was a first-of-its-kind milestone for a large, unmanned aircraft system. It’s a huge accomplishment for the UK and a technological watershed in the history of unmanned aircraft systems. GA-ASI is the first manufacturer of large, unmanned aircraft to receive an MTC based on rigorous compliance with STANAG 4671, the NATO standard for unmanned aircraft system airworthiness.

Obtaining the MTC has been a goal of GA-ASI since the inception of the MQ-9B in January 2014. The company took its proven UAS platform, the MQ-9A, and added performance enhancing features while ensuring that the design was capable of meeting NATO’s STANAG 4671 Edition 2 airworthiness requirements. To meet those rigorous requirements, the aircraft incorporates numerous enhancements not found on other large UAS. These include lightning protection, fire protection, anti-icing systems and a fatigue-and-damage-tolerant building block design approach. All flight critical software was designed in compliance with the rigor of Do-178/254. Mission software is rigidly separated from flight critical software. These features not only address the aircraft’s airworthiness but also enhance its reliability and operational flexibility to levels unmatched by other UAS.

“Earning an MTC for MQ-9B was a herculean effort and a seminal achievement for our company,” said GA-ASI CEO Linden Blue. “We invested over $500 million as part of an 11-year effort to develop an unmanned aircraft that meets NATO’s rigorous airworthiness standards. This included three flight test aircraft, full component and system-level environmental testing to Do-160 and Mil-Standards (system level environmental testing at Elgin and Pax River), full scale static test airframe test to ultimate ground and flight loads, bird strike, hail protection and full-scale fatigue testing to three lifetimes (3x 40,000 notional aircraft flight hours = 120,000 hours total). Our engineers developed over 140,000 pages of detailed technical data verifying that the MQ-9B met those demanding requirements. I congratulate our team for this outstanding accomplishment, and I know our customers need this type certification, which will open civil airspace for their flight operations.”

The Royal Air Force continues to take delivery of new Protector aircraft at their home in the North of England at RAF Waddington. The UK has 10 aircraft of the 16 it has ordered.

“Achieving the award of a first in class Military Type Certificate has required years of dedication and perseverance and is a testament to the hard work of all involved. It is a privilege to be the first to be awarded an MTC for the Protector Air System,” said Gp. Capt. Neil Venables, Type Airworthiness Authority and holder of the Protector Type Certificate.

MQ-9B is the world’s most advanced medium altitude, long endurance UAS. MQ-9B includes the SkyGuardian^® and SeaGuardian^® models as well as the Protector operated by the RAF.

In addition to the UK, GA-ASI has MQ-9B orders from Belgium, Canada, Poland, Japan Coast Guard, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Taiwan, India, and the U.S. Air Force in support of the Special Operations Command. MQ-9B has also supported various U.S. Navy exercises, including Northern Edge, Integrated Battle Problem, RIMPAC, and Group Sail.

About GA-ASI

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., is the world’s foremost builder of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Logging more than 8 million flight hours, the Predator^® line of UAS has flown for over 30 years and includes MQ-9A Reaper^®, MQ-1C Gray Eagle^® 25M, MQ-20 Avenger^®, and MQ-9B SkyGuardian^®/SeaGuardian^®. The company is dedicated to providing long-endurance, multi-mission solutions that deliver persistent situational awareness and rapid strike.

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