General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle
| MQ-1C Gray Eagle | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Role | Unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) |
| Manufacturer | General Atomics Aeronautical Systems |
| First flight | October 2004 |
| Introduction | 2009 |
| Status | In service |
| Primary user | United States Army |
| Produced | c. 2004-present |
| Number built |
|
| Program cost | US$4,745.3 million (as of FY2013) |
| Unit cost |
|
| Developed from | General Atomics MQ-1 Predator |
The General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle (previously the Warrior; also called Sky Warrior and ERMP or Extended-Range Multi-Purpose) is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS). It was developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for the United States Army as an upgrade of the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator.
The U.S. Army initiated the Extended-Range Multi-Purpose UAV competition in 2002, with the winning aircraft due to replace the RQ-5 Hunter. Two aircraft were entered, the IAI/Northrop Grumman Hunter II, and the Warrior. In August 2005, the Army announced the Warrior to be the winner and awarded a $214 million contract for system development and demonstration. The Army intends to procure eleven Warrior systems, each of these units has twelve UAVs and five ground control stations. With an expected total program cost of $1 billion, the aircraft was to enter service in 2009.
The Army sought to have the Warrior designated MQ-12, but the United States Department of Defense allocated the designation MQ-1C instead. It is planned to be operated by Task Force ODIN in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. In August 2010, the US Army announced that the MQ-1C had officially been assigned the name Gray Eagle.
The Army announced on 3 September 2010 that the integration of the AGM-114 Hellfire missile on the UAV had been so successful that 4 weaponized MQ-1Cs would be deployed to Afghanistan in late 2010.
In March 2011, Gray Eagles started showing poor reliability across all major subsystems. During that month, one Gray Eagle crashed in California when a faulty chip blocked commands to part of the aircraft's flight control surfaces. Flight testing was delayed, and was resumed when the chip was replaced, but had left it with fewer available flight hours; the average time between failures of the aircraft or components is 25 hours, while the minimum required is 100 hours. The ground control station's time between failures is 27 hours, while the minimum time required is 150 hours. Sensors fail at 134 hours, compared to 250 hours required. In October 2011, a report concluded the Gray Eagle was meeting only four out of seven "key performance parameters," and its reliability fell short of predicted growth. 11 unplanned software revisions had generally improved reliability. Reliability problems were attributed mostly to software issues from newly installed sensors, which did not reappear once fixed. Initial focus was on expanding capability and achieving an availability rate of 80 percent, then addressing reliability.
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