U.S. Navy Expands MQ-9B SeaGuardian Sonobuoy Payload to Enhance Unmanned Anti-Submarine Warfare
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General Atomics says a December 2025 MQ-9B SeaGuardian flight test for the U.S. Navy doubled sonobuoy carriage and marked the first MAC buoy drops from an uncrewed aircraft. The event signals steady movement toward persistent, networked unmanned anti-submarine patrols that could reshape how the Navy watches large ocean areas.
A General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) statement issued on 13 January 2026 said the company and the U.S. Navy had completed a new MQ-9B SeaGuardian flight test aimed at expanding the platform’s anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities. GA-ASI reported that the test, conducted on 17 December 2025, used more Sonobuoy Dispensing System (SDS) pods than in previous trials, effectively doubling the number of sonobuoys carried during the mission.
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General Atomics’ MQ-9B SeaGuardian has taken a tangible step toward unmanned anti-submarine patrols after a U.S. Navy test doubled its sonobuoy load and demonstrated networked acoustic sensing from an uncrewed aircraft (Picture Source: General Atomics)
Beyond the headline of a doubled buoy load for the test profile, the technical logic presented by GA-ASI is that SeaGuardian’s ASW configuration is meant to be a packaged capability combining carriage and release of sonobuoys with onboard monitoring and acoustic processing. GA-ASI states that each SDS pod can carry and dispense up to 10 A-size sonobuoys or up to 20 G-size sonobuoys, while the Sonobuoy Monitoring and Control System (SMCS) receives and processes acoustic information transmitted by those buoys. The company further claims that its acoustic processing generates target tracks including calculated speed, course, and depth, and that MQ-9B uses tactical data links to distribute acoustic products to other maritime users rather than keeping them local to the aircraft.
Those elements matter operationally because ASW effectiveness is often a function of time on station, pattern density, and the ability to refresh a field as contacts evolve. Increasing dispenser capacity is not only a numerical improvement; it is an attempt to buy options in how the buoy field is laid, re-laid, and shifted as the tactical picture changes, while the SMCS and data-link concept is intended to turn buoy drops into a shared, networked contribution to the wider maritime fight. In that sense, the SeaGuardian pitch is less about replacing crewed maritime patrol aircraft and more about creating persistent, distributed sensing that can keep a “live” undersea picture updated over a maritime box while other assets reposition, prosecute, or protect high-value units. GA-ASI notes that SeaGuardian has already been used by the U.S. Navy in exercises including Northern Edge, Integrated Battle Problem, RIMPAC and Group Sail, signalling a parallel effort to validate not just release mechanics but also how unmanned ISR and ASW data can be folded into fleet procedures.
A related indicator of where this concept could scale comes from Europe. On 12 January 2026, the German armed forces announced that Berlin had ordered eight MQ-9B aircraft from General Atomics for missions over water, including maritime reconnaissance and an ASW support role using underwing canisters capable of dispensing sonar buoys. Germany’s description explicitly links the purchase to monitoring large sea areas and to protecting sea routes and critical infrastructure, and it presents the concept as a complement to its P-8A Poseidon fleet by pairing a fast crewed aircraft with an endurance-focused uncrewed layer. Germany also states the first systems are expected from 2028, with operations planned at Naval Air Wing 3 Graf Zeppelin in Nordholz, and it highlights a coalition dimension in which allied units could access the collected data when needed.
For the U.S. military, the strategic significance of this SeaGuardian ASW push sits at the intersection of three pressures that are reshaping naval operations: a growing requirement for persistent maritime awareness, the need to distribute forces and sensors under threat, and the simple arithmetic of platform availability. The Department of the Navy’s Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) concept is explicitly oriented toward fighting a capable adversary that can detect and target surface forces at range, an environment in which concentrating a small number of high-end assets increases risk and reduces coverage. In that context, long-endurance unmanned aircraft able to contribute to the undersea picture fit a broader pattern: spreading sensing, extending reach, and complicating an adversary’s attempts to blind the force.
Geostrategically, that matters most where submarine activity and maritime chokepoints intersect with contested sea control and the protection of strategic infrastructure. In the Indo-Pacific, U.S. planning is shaped by long distances and by the prospect of undersea threats operating in and around island chains and transit routes that are difficult to cover continuously with only crewed aircraft. In the North Atlantic and Arctic approaches, renewed attention to sea lines of communication and undersea cables has reinforced the value of maintaining an updated picture over wide areas for long periods, especially when maritime patrol aircraft and surface combatants are also tasked with deterrence patrols, strike support, and surveillance missions. An uncrewed system that can stay in a box for many hours and feed acoustic data into a wider network is therefore less about a single “submarine hunter” and more about filling time-space gaps that otherwise invite opportunistic submarine operations.
A credible unmanned sonobuoy concept could change how the U.S. Navy allocates scarce crewed ASW capacity. Crewed platforms like the P-8A remain central for high-end prosecution, weapon delivery, and complex multi-sensor tactics, but persistence missions and routine barrier monitoring consume flight hours and crews. A SeaGuardian that can deploy and monitor buoys, push contact data, and maintain continuity over a patrol area potentially allows the Navy to reserve more crewed sorties for time-sensitive localization and attack, surge operations, or missions requiring heavy payload and rapid repositioning. Just as importantly, by lowering the political and operational risk of routinely operating in areas where threats to aircrew would be a major constraint, unmanned ASW patrols could expand the set of conditions under which the U.S. military is willing to keep an acoustic watch forward.
The networking angle is where the concept becomes most consequential, and also where the hardest work tends to be. The utility of buoy dispensing rises sharply if the resulting tracks can be fused quickly, shared securely, and acted upon by other platforms, which aligns with the U.S. Navy’s broader push to connect sensors and shooters through resilient command-and-control approaches under the umbrella of efforts such as Project Overmatch and the wider Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) agenda. In practical terms, that means the “value” of an unmanned buoy field is proportional to how well it plugs into existing ASW command chains, how rapidly it can cue a P-8A, MH-60R, surface combatant, or submarine, and how robust the data pathways are when jammed, degraded, or contested.
The December 2025 test disclosed by GA-ASI in January 2026, the company’s published description of the SDS and SMCS approach, and Germany’s decision to buy MQ-9B for over-water missions all point to a shared direction: expanding the sonobuoy capacity that an MQ-9B can carry, pairing that with onboard monitoring and processing, and turning the acoustic output into a network contribution rather than a standalone collection effort. If the U.S. Navy grants deployment flight clearance after reviewing the test data as GA-ASI anticipates, the next measure of maturity will be less about whether a buoy can be ejected and more about whether an unmanned aircraft can sustain a useful acoustic picture in real operational conditions, with all the friction that implies, and do so in a way that measurably improves how the U.S. Navy patrols, deters, and, if required, fights in the undersea domain.
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 says a December 2025 MQ-9B SeaGuardian flight test for the U.S. Navy doubled sonobuoy carriage and marked the first MAC buoy drops from an uncrewed aircraft. The event signals steady movement toward persistent, networked unmanned anti-submarine patrols that could reshape how the Navy watches large ocean areas.
A General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) statement issued on 13 January 2026 said the company and the U.S. Navy had completed a new MQ-9B SeaGuardian flight test aimed at expanding the platform’s anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities. GA-ASI reported that the test, conducted on 17 December 2025, used more Sonobuoy Dispensing System (SDS) pods than in previous trials, effectively doubling the number of sonobuoys carried during the mission.
General Atomics’ MQ-9B SeaGuardian has taken a tangible step toward unmanned anti-submarine patrols after a U.S. Navy test doubled its sonobuoy load and demonstrated networked acoustic sensing from an uncrewed aircraft (Picture Source: General Atomics)
Beyond the headline of a doubled buoy load for the test profile, the technical logic presented by GA-ASI is that SeaGuardian’s ASW configuration is meant to be a packaged capability combining carriage and release of sonobuoys with onboard monitoring and acoustic processing. GA-ASI states that each SDS pod can carry and dispense up to 10 A-size sonobuoys or up to 20 G-size sonobuoys, while the Sonobuoy Monitoring and Control System (SMCS) receives and processes acoustic information transmitted by those buoys. The company further claims that its acoustic processing generates target tracks including calculated speed, course, and depth, and that MQ-9B uses tactical data links to distribute acoustic products to other maritime users rather than keeping them local to the aircraft.
Those elements matter operationally because ASW effectiveness is often a function of time on station, pattern density, and the ability to refresh a field as contacts evolve. Increasing dispenser capacity is not only a numerical improvement; it is an attempt to buy options in how the buoy field is laid, re-laid, and shifted as the tactical picture changes, while the SMCS and data-link concept is intended to turn buoy drops into a shared, networked contribution to the wider maritime fight. In that sense, the SeaGuardian pitch is less about replacing crewed maritime patrol aircraft and more about creating persistent, distributed sensing that can keep a “live” undersea picture updated over a maritime box while other assets reposition, prosecute, or protect high-value units. GA-ASI notes that SeaGuardian has already been used by the U.S. Navy in exercises including Northern Edge, Integrated Battle Problem, RIMPAC and Group Sail, signalling a parallel effort to validate not just release mechanics but also how unmanned ISR and ASW data can be folded into fleet procedures.
A related indicator of where this concept could scale comes from Europe. On 12 January 2026, the German armed forces announced that Berlin had ordered eight MQ-9B aircraft from General Atomics for missions over water, including maritime reconnaissance and an ASW support role using underwing canisters capable of dispensing sonar buoys. Germany’s description explicitly links the purchase to monitoring large sea areas and to protecting sea routes and critical infrastructure, and it presents the concept as a complement to its P-8A Poseidon fleet by pairing a fast crewed aircraft with an endurance-focused uncrewed layer. Germany also states the first systems are expected from 2028, with operations planned at Naval Air Wing 3 Graf Zeppelin in Nordholz, and it highlights a coalition dimension in which allied units could access the collected data when needed.
For the U.S. military, the strategic significance of this SeaGuardian ASW push sits at the intersection of three pressures that are reshaping naval operations: a growing requirement for persistent maritime awareness, the need to distribute forces and sensors under threat, and the simple arithmetic of platform availability. The Department of the Navy’s Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) concept is explicitly oriented toward fighting a capable adversary that can detect and target surface forces at range, an environment in which concentrating a small number of high-end assets increases risk and reduces coverage. In that context, long-endurance unmanned aircraft able to contribute to the undersea picture fit a broader pattern: spreading sensing, extending reach, and complicating an adversary’s attempts to blind the force.
Geostrategically, that matters most where submarine activity and maritime chokepoints intersect with contested sea control and the protection of strategic infrastructure. In the Indo-Pacific, U.S. planning is shaped by long distances and by the prospect of undersea threats operating in and around island chains and transit routes that are difficult to cover continuously with only crewed aircraft. In the North Atlantic and Arctic approaches, renewed attention to sea lines of communication and undersea cables has reinforced the value of maintaining an updated picture over wide areas for long periods, especially when maritime patrol aircraft and surface combatants are also tasked with deterrence patrols, strike support, and surveillance missions. An uncrewed system that can stay in a box for many hours and feed acoustic data into a wider network is therefore less about a single “submarine hunter” and more about filling time-space gaps that otherwise invite opportunistic submarine operations.
A credible unmanned sonobuoy concept could change how the U.S. Navy allocates scarce crewed ASW capacity. Crewed platforms like the P-8A remain central for high-end prosecution, weapon delivery, and complex multi-sensor tactics, but persistence missions and routine barrier monitoring consume flight hours and crews. A SeaGuardian that can deploy and monitor buoys, push contact data, and maintain continuity over a patrol area potentially allows the Navy to reserve more crewed sorties for time-sensitive localization and attack, surge operations, or missions requiring heavy payload and rapid repositioning. Just as importantly, by lowering the political and operational risk of routinely operating in areas where threats to aircrew would be a major constraint, unmanned ASW patrols could expand the set of conditions under which the U.S. military is willing to keep an acoustic watch forward.
The networking angle is where the concept becomes most consequential, and also where the hardest work tends to be. The utility of buoy dispensing rises sharply if the resulting tracks can be fused quickly, shared securely, and acted upon by other platforms, which aligns with the U.S. Navy’s broader push to connect sensors and shooters through resilient command-and-control approaches under the umbrella of efforts such as Project Overmatch and the wider Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) agenda. In practical terms, that means the “value” of an unmanned buoy field is proportional to how well it plugs into existing ASW command chains, how rapidly it can cue a P-8A, MH-60R, surface combatant, or submarine, and how robust the data pathways are when jammed, degraded, or contested.
The December 2025 test disclosed by GA-ASI in January 2026, the company’s published description of the SDS and SMCS approach, and Germany’s decision to buy MQ-9B for over-water missions all point to a shared direction: expanding the sonobuoy capacity that an MQ-9B can carry, pairing that with onboard monitoring and processing, and turning the acoustic output into a network contribution rather than a standalone collection effort. If the U.S. Navy grants deployment flight clearance after reviewing the test data as GA-ASI anticipates, the next measure of maturity will be less about whether a buoy can be ejected and more about whether an unmanned aircraft can sustain a useful acoustic picture in real operational conditions, with all the friction that implies, and do so in a way that measurably improves how the U.S. Navy patrols, deters, and, if required, fights in the undersea domain.
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.
