MQ-9 carrying an AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile
The US Air Force (USAF) scored the first air-to-air kill for the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) during trials late last year, the service disclosed on 19 September.
The disclosure by a senior officer speaking at the Air Force Association Space and Cyber conference comes some six months after Jane’s was the first to report the USAF’s intention to equip the Reaper with an aerial combat capability for the first time. On 7 March the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Medium Altitude UAS Division said it was to award the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) a sole-source contract for the development of MQ-9 Reaper Air-to-Air Missile (RAAM) Aviation Simulation (AVSIM) as the first step in fielding such a capability.
During the test in November 2017 a Reaper shot down a manoeuvring small UAV using “a heat-seeking missile”, Military.com quoted Colonel Julian Cheater, commander of the 432nd Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, as saying. While the report did not disclose the type of missile used, an image supposedly of the Reaper in question shows it to be carrying a single Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile under its port wing.
Col Cheater explained that the test will help the USAF develop both the capability and the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to employ it, though neither he nor the wider USAF have said when it might be rolled out operationally.
Photo: Released on November 2016 by U.S. Navy Captain James Stoneman, in charge of the Air-to-Air Missiles Program Office at Naval Air Systems Command,
Source: Jane’s 360