General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is pitching its new Wildfire drone as a replacement for the firm's MQ-9A Reaper following sweeping losses in Operation Epic Fury . Wildfire comes from a clean-sheet design to better integrate lower-cost materials, modularity and mass producibility, GA-ASI said in a news release today, aligning the drone with the Air Force and Defense Innovation Unit’s ambitions for the Massed Modular Aircraft program. MMA is accelerating to fill in holes exposed by the high attrition of MQ-9As in Iran, the service told reporters at the Pentagon last week. They said they want future MMAs to have a higher degree of automation than Reapers currently do and cost as little as $10 million per air vehicle . GA-ASI's new drone will incorporate a variety of learnings the company has accumulated over years of flying the MQ-9A, MQ-9B Sky Guardian and now the Air Force’s FQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft, but the company said it will not be considered an exquisite design. “This is exactly the right design for high-demand missions and cost-conscious customers,” GA-ASI President David Alexander said in a statement. “Our tailor-designed, attrition-tolerant Wildfire balances the high capability our aircraft are known for with huge flexibility and great scalability. There’s never been anything like it before." Because of the drone’s use of common components and high payload capability, Wildfire is expected to be fielded en masse and take on risk during kinetic missions. It will also be capable of carrying different payload combinations and designed for collaborative operations off the bat. “This is a high-volume, lower-cost airplane that does a few things really well,” Alexander said. Similar to the MQ-9A, its focus will involve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and strike. GA-ASI ended Reaper production last year, but the company still makes the upgraded MQ-9B variant, called SkyGuardian, at a cost akin to the MQ-9A. The Air Force and DIU are not considering MQ-9B to replenish the MQ-9A fleet, Lt. Gen. Christopher Niemi, the Air Force’s chief modernization officer, said Sept. 3. “There’s a, I think, sort of a misconception that because the MQ-9B is in production, we can walk down there with a big fat check and have 100 of them this year. That’s not reality,” Niemi said. “If you don't like the idea of losing an MQ-9A that costs on the order of $50 million with the sensors, you're probably not going to like losing an MQ-9B at a higher price point.” The Air Force and DIU are eyeing drones in the 4,000 miles-type class for the MMA program that can fly far and carry a heavy payload. A Commercial Solutions Opening notice issued in July indicated the Reaper successor would need to have the ability to shuttle a payload of “at least” 2,800 pounds plus the ability to self-deploy 8,000 nautical miles one way. Wildfire is configured to carry “four Joint Strike Missiles simultaneously, or numerous other combinations of munitions, launched effects, sensors or other payloads,” GA-ASI said. “Wildfire meets or surpasses all requirements of [the Pentagon’s] request in dramatic fashion, exceeding 8,000 nautical miles ferry range and capable of carrying two Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles simultaneously for meaningful combat distance,” it added. The original CSO called for full-scale prototype flight testing within 21 months of receiving an MMA concept refinement award, with a target to reach initial operating capability -- 20 mission-ready aircraft delivered to an operational unit for deployment -- in fiscal year 2031. But the Air Force is trying to move even faster on the program, service leaders told reporters last week at the Pentagon. GA-ASI says Wildfire can be delivered “years earlier” than the original FY-31 timeline, while “producing more than twice as many aircraft in the same amount of time.”
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