The SeaGuardian can fly over the horizon via satellite for over thirty hours.
Last month, The National Interest published a two-part series on IDEX 2025, the latest and greatest edition of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference, an expo that has taken place biennially in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), since 1993; this year’s conference ran from February 17-21, 2025.
The second installment of our two-part series touched heavily upon the weapons systems being displayed by Israel (a manifestation of the long-term benefits of the Abraham Accords), China, and Russia. However, as we also noted, U.S. defense contractors certainly weren’t slouching or slacking at IDEX either.
Accordingly, we pointed out that one such contractor, San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-AIS), was mulling a potential business partnership with one of the UAE’s largest fellow Gulf Cooperation Council members, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), via a potential sale of MQ-9B SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS). If successful, it would signify one of the first major drone deals between the KSA and a Western supplier; historically, the Saudi government has bought unmanned aerial vehicles from non-Western suppliers such as China and Turkey.
Well, it seems that the SeaGuardian has just become an even more attractive product to would-be buyers, foreign and domestic alike, thanks to some additional upgrades and improvements.
The SeaGuardian Gets an Upgrade
The latest news comes to us from Parth Satam in a March 1, 2025m article for The Aviationist titled “General Atomics Enhances MQ-9B SeaGuardian’s Submarine Hunting Capability with New Air-Dropped Sensors.” To wit:
“The pods ‘deployed multiple sonobuoys to conduct onboard thermal-depth and acoustic data processing.’ The company further explained that ‘using Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording (DIFAR), Directional Command Activated Sonobuoy System (DICASS), and Bathythermograph sonobuoys, SeaGuardian effectively detected, tracked, and analyzed underwater targets while collecting critical acoustic intelligence’ … Multiple DIFAR and DICASS test sonobuoys were dropped during the tests, precisely correlating ejection speed with stress/strain data, as a part of the development process, ‘This provided a high-fidelity launch model to refine future deployment capabilities,’ the release added … The test has enhanced the SeaGuardian’s status as the only UCAV/RPA that can carry, release and monitor sonobuoys, whose data is then used by naval maritime patrol, ASW aircraft, helicopters and surface ships to hunt submarines.” [emphasis added]
The specific pods in question were pre-production Sonobuoy Dispensing System (SDS) pods. According to the GA-AIS press release, these tests took place from January 20 to January 30, 2025.
MQ-9B Initial History and Basics
The MQ-9B SeaGuardian is the maritime sister craft of the revolutionary MQ-9B SkyGuardian RPAS, which in turn is descended from the original MQ-9 Reaper, aka the Predator II, which made its maiden flight on February 2, 2001, and was officially introduced on May 1, 2007. As the manufacturer’s official info page notes:
“SeaGuardian not only integrates the most advanced maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, but it is also the first RPAS in its classto enable real-time search and patrol above and below the ocean’s surface.”
One of the especially desirable features of the SeaGuardian is its endurance and loitering capability, more specifically, the ability to fly over the horizon via satellite for over thirty hours (depending on configuration) in all types of weather.
Moreover, the SeaGuardian lives up to early twentieth-century airpower theorist Gen. Giulio Douhet’s famous dictum that “Flexibility is the key to airpower. Besides antisubmarine warfare (ASW), the drone can perform the following functions:
The Big Picture
Developments in Western antisubmarine warfare (ASW) technologies such as the MQ-9B couldn’t come soon enough. Indeed, Russia and China are pursuing new submarine capabilities such as the former’s Borei-class (a successor to the Cold War-vintage behemoth Typhoon-class boats made famous in Western pop culture by The Hunt for Red October) and the latter’s Type 09IIIB nuclear-powered attack submarine), as well as the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s ominous, extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicles.
Stay tuned for future developments on the SeaGuardian’s prospects for acquisition by U.S. and allied militaries.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
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