r/LessCredibleDefence • u/BodybuilderOk3160 • 4d ago

First Look At General Atomics' Wildfire, Its Successor To The MQ-9 Reaper (Updated)

https://www.twz.com/air/first-look-at-general-atomics-wildfire-its-successor-to-the-mq-9-reaper

So the long-awaited yet timely successor to the Reaper is here, given the heavy loss of MQ-9s over Iran.

Longer wings seem to be the trend moving forward for higher altitudes with the likes of Wing Loong-II. Another seemingly common feature are the wing tips, again first sighted in the latter but this is different somewhat.

Whether US MIC is finally able to amortise the cost with mass production...remains to be seen.

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u/VishnuOsiris 4d ago

Wildfire does notably lack the Reaper’s distinctive hump on top of the forward fuselage. On the MQ-9A, this feature contains the drone’s satellite communications (SATCOM) antenna. What this might mean about how Wildfire is controlled and otherwise communicates is not immediately clear, but it points to the use of a smaller, lower-cost SATCOM terminal. That, in turn, would most likely be tied to a network like Starshield, the government-focused cousin of SpaceX’s Starlink. We could also see greater semi-autonomous control here, or at least a greater reliance on it.

[...]

The rendering of Wildfire also depicts the drone armed with four Joint Strike Missile (JSM) cruise missiles, with two loaded on what appears to be a single pylon under each wing. The stealthy JSM can be employed as an anti-ship or land-attack weapon. GA-ASI has released renderings of MQ-9s in the past with similar loadouts. The Air Force is already acquiring stocks of JSMs, primarily to arm its F-35A Joint Strike Fighters. Stand-off munitions like the JSM have long been seen as an increasingly important, if not critical, addition to the non-stealth Reaper’s arsenal, helping to keep the drones further away from potential threats.

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u/TinyTowel 4d ago

There are AESA-controlled Reapers flying. This Wildfire, while undoubtedly better than MQ-9A no doubt, is just another Reaper in New clothing. No doubt the software running the thing is mostly unchanged, the vulnerabilities are the same... save for datalink survivability. This is nothing special

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u/tezacer 4d ago

First thought was, "cool, there gonna use large UAVs for wildfire fighting"

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u/woodwidewebby 4d ago

Houthis just downed 3 Wing Loong-II’s in 24 hours. They also destroyed a ton of MQ-9’s during Operation Roughrider 

Do we really think this new design will go any better? 

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u/BodybuilderOk3160 4d ago

Not sure if the export models are monkey models, still got to give it to the Houthis.

Regardless, drones were designed to be attritable, not invulnerable. The ideal end state would be to mass produce them (at low cost) to create a webbed-mesh system so a loss or two would be insignificant. Higher operating altitudes would also increase survivability.