The Defense Innovation Unit program is seeking an alternative to the MQ-9A Reaper. General Atomics said Wildfire meets or exceeds the competition’s requirements and can be delivered years before the fiscal 2031 target.
Wildfire has a ferry range of more than 8,000 nautical miles and can carry two Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles at the same time. It can alternatively carry four Joint Strike Missiles or other combinations of weapons, sensors, launched effects and payloads.
The clean-sheet aircraft combines features from General Atomics’ existing uncrewed systems with lower-cost components and a modular design. It is intended to provide a balance between combat capability, production scale and the ability to accept greater operational risk.
“This is exactly the right design for high-demand missions and cost-conscious customers,” said General Atomics President David R. Alexander. “Our tailor-designed, attrition-tolerant Wildfire balances the high capability our aircraft are known for with huge flexibility and great scalability.”
Wildfire will focus on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, strike and similar core missions. Its payload capacity and stronger hardpoints will also support heavy cargo delivery and other civil or commercial uses.
“But Wildfire is different,” Alexander said. “It’s focused on core ISR, strike and similar roles.”
The aircraft will enter service with a high level of autonomy and the ability to conduct collaborative operations. Its systems will draw on technology developed for General Atomics’ FQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
General Atomics said Wildfire’s autonomy architecture can coordinate dozens of aircraft in networked combat operations. Control through proliferated low-Earth-orbit satellites has already been demonstrated on other aircraft in the company’s portfolio.
“This is a high-volume, lower-cost airplane that does a few things really well,” Alexander said. The company expects to produce more than twice as many Wildfire aircraft within the same period by using its existing factories and supplier network.
Wildfire draws on more than three decades of General Atomics experience with large uncrewed aircraft. The company has delivered more than 1,600 aircraft across the Predator, Reaper, SkyGuardian, Avenger and FQ-42A programs.
Those aircraft have accumulated almost 10 million flight hours, most of them in combat. General Atomics said that operational record informed the design of Wildfire and its approach to production, modularity and mission systems.
