MQ-9 Reaper provides ISR capability to support littoral and expeditionary advanced missions in contested environments. Credit: U.S. Marine Corps/Naval Air Systems Command.

The US Navy has awarded a $8.4m contract to three industry partners to develop advanced system for the US Marine Corps’ (USMC) MQ-9 Reaper aircraft.

The three companies include Northrop Grumman, L3Harris Technologies and Global Air Logistics and Training (GALT).

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

All the companies will work together to develop an Airborne Network Extension (ANE) Skytower II (STII) system for the MQ-9 aircraft.

This contract has been awarded by the Multi-Mission Tactical Unmanned Air System programme office (PMA-266).

It is part of the Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) vehicle, which is used by government to support research and development (R&D) and prototype development.

PMA-266 STII team lead Michelle Dutko said: “This OTA allowed contracts team to tailor the scope of the project and narrow down vendor capabilities by releasing a Statement of Need (SON) early on.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

“The OTA also provided the opportunity for the team to develop statement of work with vendor input therefore streamlining the normal processing time to contract award.”

Once initial R&D phase is complete, Dutko said that the US Navy and the USMC are planning to conduct a prototype demonstration of the new system with a surrogate aircraft and then with an MQ-9A uncrewed aircraft.

The integration of new ANE STII system onto MQ-9 is expected to take place by 2026.

The STII system is a network pod, which is being developed to provide additional capability to MQ-9 aircraft for conducting operational missions.

This system will provide tactical operational communications and data sharing capabilities to the aircraft for the execution of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) concept of operations.