GA‑ASI Advances MQ‑9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian Drones with Long‑Range Standoff Strike Capabilities
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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is developing the addition of long-range standoff weapons to its top-of-the-line MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft, expanding the industry-leading UAS family into deep-strike and naval-strike roles across contested theaters such as the Western Pacific.
On 23 February 2026, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) announced from San Diego that it is developing the addition of long-range standoff weapons to its top-of-the-line MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft. The company explains that its engineers are adapting MQ-9B’s payload, stability, range and other key characteristics to accommodate a new generation of extended-range precision weapons, while examining options that include the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), as well as the Kongsberg/Raytheon Joint Strike Missile (JSM). GA-ASI frames this work as a response to sustained demand from naval and air warfighters for platforms able to hold targets at risk from great distances, particularly over the vast air and sea spaces of the Western Pacific. By evolving a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft into a potential deep-strike and maritime-strike asset, GA-ASI is seeking to give operators new ways to combine persistence, reach and precision.
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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announced it is preparing the MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian to carry JASSM, LRASM and JSM missiles, expanding the drone’s role into long-range land and maritime strike missions (Picture Source: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. / Lockheed Martin / Kongsberg)
MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian are the latest members of the long-running Predator family, designed from the outset for long endurance, high payload and routine operation in controlled airspace. The airframe features a wingspan of roughly 79 feet, endurance in excess of 40 hours under favorable conditions and multiple external stations capable of carrying nearly 4,750 pounds of stores, including sensors, fuel tanks and weapons. This combination of payload capacity, power generation and robust datalinks has already allowed GA-ASI to integrate a wide range of ISR payloads and precision-guided munitions. Building on this foundation, the company is now conducting performance analyses and engineering work to adapt MQ-9B’s stores management, flight control margins and mission system architecture to support a new class of heavy standoff weapons traditionally associated with crewed bombers and strike fighters.
Within this roadmap, JASSM represents the land-attack pillar. It is a low-observable, air-launched cruise missile equipped with a large penetrator warhead and designed to engage high-value fixed or relocatable targets from well outside dense air defense envelopes. Open sources generally describe its range as on the order of several hundred kilometers, depending on variant and launch conditions. Rather than requiring a manned aircraft to penetrate deep into contested airspace, a JASSM-equipped MQ-9B could orbit at medium altitude beyond an adversary’s integrated air defense system, receive targeting data through secure networks and release the missile on optimized trajectories and timing. In that configuration, the unmanned aircraft functions as a persistent “missile truck,” decoupling the launch platform from the point of impact in both time and space, and allowing commanders to exploit windows of opportunity without exposing crews.
For maritime operations, the prospective integration of LRASM onto SeaGuardian is central. LRASM is a derivative of the JASSM family adapted for anti-ship missions, combining long-range subsonic flight with a sophisticated seeker suite intended to operate in highly contested electromagnetic environments. It is designed to detect, classify and prioritize surface targets autonomously while flying low-altitude sea-skimming profiles to reduce reaction time for shipboard defenses. Arming SeaGuardian with such a weapon would permit navies to hold enemy surface action groups and high-value units at significant distances, using an unmanned platform that can remain on station for many hours. Rather than committing manned maritime patrol aircraft or surface combatants into forward positions, commanders could push MQ-9B orbits along likely threat axes and retain the option to launch anti-ship salvos when rules of engagement and target identification criteria are satisfied.
The Joint Strike Missile adds a complementary, highly flexible option. JSM is an air-launched cruise missile optimized for both anti-ship and land-attack roles and is known for its ability to follow complex routes, exploit terrain masking and employ an advanced imaging infrared seeker with autonomous target recognition. It also incorporates a two-way datalink that supports retargeting and cooperative engagement tactics. When carried by MQ-9B, JSM could be used to prosecute targets in the littoral and deep inland, including mobile surface units, coastal batteries and critical infrastructure. Its planned use by several allied fast-jet fleets makes it especially attractive for MQ-9B operators, as employing the same missile from both manned fighters and unmanned aircraft simplifies logistics and enhances interoperability. GA-ASI’s effort to prepare MQ-9B for JSM-class weapons therefore strengthens the aircraft’s value as a force multiplier in multinational air campaigns.
GA-ASI has outlined a notional mission profile that illustrates how these weapons might be employed operationally from MQ-9B. In a Western or Southern Pacific scenario, SkyGuardian or SeaGuardian could launch from a variety of friendly bases, climb to medium altitude and transit to designated hold points located just outside an adversary’s weapons engagement zone. There, the aircraft would loiter for extended periods, contributing electro-optical, radar and maritime surveillance data to the joint operational picture while maintaining weapons on call. If a decision is taken to strike a high-value target set, such as a coastal anti-ship missile regiment, a command and control node or a naval task group, the drones could release JASSM, LRASM or JSM in coordination with salvos from surface combatants, submarines and manned aircraft. Time-on-target could be synchronized across multiple axes of attack, turning MQ-9B into a flexible shooter node embedded in a wider kill web rather than a stand-alone strike platform.
The cross-service implications of this evolution are significant. For navies, SeaGuardian equipped with long-range anti-ship and multi-role missiles adds another tier to maritime strike architectures, filling the space between heavyweight magazines on destroyers or submarines and shorter-range coastal defense batteries. For air forces, MQ-9B configured with standoff land-attack weapons supplements limited bomber and fighter inventories, increasing the number of launch cells available in theater without proportionally increasing the number of high-end crewed aircraft that must penetrate defended airspace. Land forces and marine corps experimenting with expeditionary advanced base operations and land-based anti-ship regiments could also leverage weaponized MQ-9B as an overhead contributor to the same targeting network, supplying persistent ISR, overwatch and, when authorized, precision fires. In each domain, the ability to station unmanned platforms forward and keep them airborne for long durations enhances magazine depth, geographic coverage and the flexibility of long-range fires.
At the strategic level, preparing MQ-9B to employ JASSM-, LRASM- and JSM-class weapons directly addresses the anti-access/area-denial challenges posed by sophisticated adversaries. An opponent can no longer assume that a medium-altitude ISR drone is merely collecting data; that same airframe may be able, in a crisis, to launch stealthy cruise missiles from hundreds of kilometers away. This ambiguity complicates threat assessment, forces a re-evaluation of targeting priorities and increases the uncertainty that underpins credible deterrence. By coupling relatively low operating costs with high-end munitions, GA-ASI offers operators a way to maintain persistent strike-ready orbits in key theaters without the sustained sortie generation burden associated with large bomber fleets. For current and future MQ-9B customers across Europe and the Indo-Pacific, the possibility of adding long-range standoff weapons over the life of the system transforms SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian from primarily surveillance assets into scalable contributors to joint and combined strike capability.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is clearly positioning MQ-9B to remain at the center of multi-domain operations for decades. Building on more than three decades of Predator-family experience and millions of flight hours, the company is moving deliberately to evolve a proven MALE platform into a persistent launch base for some of the most capable standoff missiles in Western inventories. By doing so, GA-ASI gives air, naval and land commanders an affordable way to expand long-range strike capacity, particularly in theaters where distance, dispersion and contested airspace are defining features. If flight testing of these weapons proceeds as planned and the first firings from MQ-9B occur as early as 2026, this integration will not only reinforce the aircraft’s relevance but also accelerate the shift toward distributed, unmanned-heavy strike architectures in which GA-ASI’s systems play a pivotal role.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is developing the addition of long-range standoff weapons to its top-of-the-line MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft, expanding the industry-leading UAS family into deep-strike and naval-strike roles across contested theaters such as the Western Pacific.
On 23 February 2026, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) announced from San Diego that it is developing the addition of long-range standoff weapons to its top-of-the-line MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft. The company explains that its engineers are adapting MQ-9B’s payload, stability, range and other key characteristics to accommodate a new generation of extended-range precision weapons, while examining options that include the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), as well as the Kongsberg/Raytheon Joint Strike Missile (JSM). GA-ASI frames this work as a response to sustained demand from naval and air warfighters for platforms able to hold targets at risk from great distances, particularly over the vast air and sea spaces of the Western Pacific. By evolving a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft into a potential deep-strike and maritime-strike asset, GA-ASI is seeking to give operators new ways to combine persistence, reach and precision.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announced it is preparing the MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian to carry JASSM, LRASM and JSM missiles, expanding the drone’s role into long-range land and maritime strike missions (Picture Source: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. / Lockheed Martin / Kongsberg)
MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian are the latest members of the long-running Predator family, designed from the outset for long endurance, high payload and routine operation in controlled airspace. The airframe features a wingspan of roughly 79 feet, endurance in excess of 40 hours under favorable conditions and multiple external stations capable of carrying nearly 4,750 pounds of stores, including sensors, fuel tanks and weapons. This combination of payload capacity, power generation and robust datalinks has already allowed GA-ASI to integrate a wide range of ISR payloads and precision-guided munitions. Building on this foundation, the company is now conducting performance analyses and engineering work to adapt MQ-9B’s stores management, flight control margins and mission system architecture to support a new class of heavy standoff weapons traditionally associated with crewed bombers and strike fighters.
Within this roadmap, JASSM represents the land-attack pillar. It is a low-observable, air-launched cruise missile equipped with a large penetrator warhead and designed to engage high-value fixed or relocatable targets from well outside dense air defense envelopes. Open sources generally describe its range as on the order of several hundred kilometers, depending on variant and launch conditions. Rather than requiring a manned aircraft to penetrate deep into contested airspace, a JASSM-equipped MQ-9B could orbit at medium altitude beyond an adversary’s integrated air defense system, receive targeting data through secure networks and release the missile on optimized trajectories and timing. In that configuration, the unmanned aircraft functions as a persistent “missile truck,” decoupling the launch platform from the point of impact in both time and space, and allowing commanders to exploit windows of opportunity without exposing crews.
For maritime operations, the prospective integration of LRASM onto SeaGuardian is central. LRASM is a derivative of the JASSM family adapted for anti-ship missions, combining long-range subsonic flight with a sophisticated seeker suite intended to operate in highly contested electromagnetic environments. It is designed to detect, classify and prioritize surface targets autonomously while flying low-altitude sea-skimming profiles to reduce reaction time for shipboard defenses. Arming SeaGuardian with such a weapon would permit navies to hold enemy surface action groups and high-value units at significant distances, using an unmanned platform that can remain on station for many hours. Rather than committing manned maritime patrol aircraft or surface combatants into forward positions, commanders could push MQ-9B orbits along likely threat axes and retain the option to launch anti-ship salvos when rules of engagement and target identification criteria are satisfied.
The Joint Strike Missile adds a complementary, highly flexible option. JSM is an air-launched cruise missile optimized for both anti-ship and land-attack roles and is known for its ability to follow complex routes, exploit terrain masking and employ an advanced imaging infrared seeker with autonomous target recognition. It also incorporates a two-way datalink that supports retargeting and cooperative engagement tactics. When carried by MQ-9B, JSM could be used to prosecute targets in the littoral and deep inland, including mobile surface units, coastal batteries and critical infrastructure. Its planned use by several allied fast-jet fleets makes it especially attractive for MQ-9B operators, as employing the same missile from both manned fighters and unmanned aircraft simplifies logistics and enhances interoperability. GA-ASI’s effort to prepare MQ-9B for JSM-class weapons therefore strengthens the aircraft’s value as a force multiplier in multinational air campaigns.
GA-ASI has outlined a notional mission profile that illustrates how these weapons might be employed operationally from MQ-9B. In a Western or Southern Pacific scenario, SkyGuardian or SeaGuardian could launch from a variety of friendly bases, climb to medium altitude and transit to designated hold points located just outside an adversary’s weapons engagement zone. There, the aircraft would loiter for extended periods, contributing electro-optical, radar and maritime surveillance data to the joint operational picture while maintaining weapons on call. If a decision is taken to strike a high-value target set, such as a coastal anti-ship missile regiment, a command and control node or a naval task group, the drones could release JASSM, LRASM or JSM in coordination with salvos from surface combatants, submarines and manned aircraft. Time-on-target could be synchronized across multiple axes of attack, turning MQ-9B into a flexible shooter node embedded in a wider kill web rather than a stand-alone strike platform.
The cross-service implications of this evolution are significant. For navies, SeaGuardian equipped with long-range anti-ship and multi-role missiles adds another tier to maritime strike architectures, filling the space between heavyweight magazines on destroyers or submarines and shorter-range coastal defense batteries. For air forces, MQ-9B configured with standoff land-attack weapons supplements limited bomber and fighter inventories, increasing the number of launch cells available in theater without proportionally increasing the number of high-end crewed aircraft that must penetrate defended airspace. Land forces and marine corps experimenting with expeditionary advanced base operations and land-based anti-ship regiments could also leverage weaponized MQ-9B as an overhead contributor to the same targeting network, supplying persistent ISR, overwatch and, when authorized, precision fires. In each domain, the ability to station unmanned platforms forward and keep them airborne for long durations enhances magazine depth, geographic coverage and the flexibility of long-range fires.
At the strategic level, preparing MQ-9B to employ JASSM-, LRASM- and JSM-class weapons directly addresses the anti-access/area-denial challenges posed by sophisticated adversaries. An opponent can no longer assume that a medium-altitude ISR drone is merely collecting data; that same airframe may be able, in a crisis, to launch stealthy cruise missiles from hundreds of kilometers away. This ambiguity complicates threat assessment, forces a re-evaluation of targeting priorities and increases the uncertainty that underpins credible deterrence. By coupling relatively low operating costs with high-end munitions, GA-ASI offers operators a way to maintain persistent strike-ready orbits in key theaters without the sustained sortie generation burden associated with large bomber fleets. For current and future MQ-9B customers across Europe and the Indo-Pacific, the possibility of adding long-range standoff weapons over the life of the system transforms SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian from primarily surveillance assets into scalable contributors to joint and combined strike capability.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is clearly positioning MQ-9B to remain at the center of multi-domain operations for decades. Building on more than three decades of Predator-family experience and millions of flight hours, the company is moving deliberately to evolve a proven MALE platform into a persistent launch base for some of the most capable standoff missiles in Western inventories. By doing so, GA-ASI gives air, naval and land commanders an affordable way to expand long-range strike capacity, particularly in theaters where distance, dispersion and contested airspace are defining features. If flight testing of these weapons proceeds as planned and the first firings from MQ-9B occur as early as 2026, this integration will not only reinforce the aircraft’s relevance but also accelerate the shift toward distributed, unmanned-heavy strike architectures in which GA-ASI’s systems play a pivotal role.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
