On October 29, General Atomics’ MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range (ER) UAS took its first test flight at the El Mirage flight operations facility in Adelanto, California. The medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAS is an upgrade of the company’s Gray Eagle UAS.

“The flight of our capital MQ-1C Gray Eagle ER UAS is a significant milestone in the continued evolution of the MQ-1C program with our US Army customer,” said David R Alexander, GA-ASI aircraft systems president, in a company issued press release.

“This marks the next step in delivering the aircraft’s increased endurance and payload capability to the warfighter.”

Designed to have longer endurance and a larger payload capacity than the Gray Eagle, the MQ-1C’s endurance eclipses 40 hours, and has a Maximum Gross Takeoff Weight (MGTOW) of 4,200 pounds, compared to a MGTOW of 3,600 pounds for the Gray Eagle.

Other improved features of the MQ-1C include an upgraded Heavy Fuel Engine-180 (HFE-180), a better cooling system and a high-performance induction system.

Flight testing of the MQ-1C has an expected completion date of June 2017. Four MQ-1C’s are expected to be delivered to the U.S. Army in 2017, with 15 more expected to be delivered in 2018.

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