The service is pursuing technologies for its Marine Air-Ground Task Force unmanned expeditionary (MUX) family of systems, including medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drones.

Among the in-the-works tools are airborne network extension capabilities, electronic warfare pod, maritime domain awareness pod, detect-and-avoid system, proliferated low-Earth orbit command and control, and smart sensors, according to Lt. Col. Eric Duchene, integrated product team lead for combat capabilities on the MUX/MALE MQ-9A at Naval Air Systems Command’s program office for multi-mission tactical unmanned aerial systems, PMA-266.

“What that provides is AI-enabled, persistent presence in the battlespace. We’re looking to field advanced capabilities that allow us to find, fix and track our targets of interest, and then be able to disseminate that out to the MAGTF and the joint force,” he said Tuesday during a presentation at the Modern Day Marine conference, calling the smart sensor payload system “a really, really big, advanced capability.”

“This is tactical edge, high-power compute processing in the battlespace. Fielding this capability will be critical to reducing the pilot and sensor operator workload inside the battlespace to find, fix, track and target targets of interest. What this does … with sensor autonomy is it minimizes the time by automating what would normally be a manual three-ball collect on a target, of trying to find and then progressively get closer and closer to the target of interest, refine what you’re seeing, identify it. We’re looking to lessen that workload to then free up the operator to do more advanced things like develop a track and then be able to employ that and disseminate it throughout the joint force,” Duchene said.

The Marines have currently fielded 18 MQ-9As, built by General Atomics, and two more are slated to come off the production line soon, he told DefenseScoop.

A bundled release of Sky Tower II electronic warfare payloads and the smart sensor system are slated for the last quarter of this calendar year, he said.

In the future, the Corps wants its own “organic” pipeline for AI and machine learning so that these types of tools can be modified and improved to meet warfighters’ needs.

“What that does is AI and ML takes big data, it takes a lot of processing power, and by owning our own data that we’re getting off the platform, being able to retrain and update AI machine learning algorithms and then send those forward as the battlefield evolves over time” will be important, he said. “When we collect that data, we can rapidly retrain, put out new models. And you can, as an operator, eventually you’ll be able to take that and go from ‘this algorithm didn’t work,’ maybe real-time get it fixed, and then re-upload it, and now tweak your algorithm while you’re out there flying and get better fine, fix and track capability,” Duchene said.

Meanwhile, some observers are raising concerns about the survivability of Reapers in contested battlespaces. The Houthis in Yemen have recently shot down several U.S. military MQ-9s that were supporting American military operations against the group, which has been launching missiles and one-way attack drones at commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea.

At the Modern Day Marine conference, Duchene was asked how the Reaper would survive in a conflict with China or other adversaries with advanced air defense weapons.

“I would say it’s not a unique problem just for the MQ-9 Alpha,” he said. “We’re all actively working that solution. And in our system for MUX/MALE, we are also working that too, to maximize our survivability.”

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The release of a sources-sought notice Wednesday is the latest signal by the service that it wants to enhance the capabilities of the largest drone in its arsenal.

The Corps is acquiring MQ-9 long-endurance unmanned aerial systems built by General Atomics to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and to serve as a secure communications gateway and network bridge for the joint force. Officials envision the platforms exchanging data with satellites, other drones and aircraft, ships, expeditionary advanced bases, land maneuver forces, ground control stations and land-based sensors. The effort is expected to contribute to the U.S. military’s warfighting construct known as Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2).

“If you’re going to be out-sticked by the adversary, then in terms of sensing and in terms of striking, you’re of no value. You have to be able to sense at range, you have to be able to make sense of what’s happening, and you have to be able to share that data ubiquitously across the battlespace with the joint force, which is why our MQ-9 is so important,” Marine Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said at a Brookings Institution event in July.

On Wednesday, the tactical unmanned aerial systems program office (PMA-266) put out an RFI seeking industry input to identify potential solutions for a high-performance computer (HPC) to deploy on the Reaper.

“Ideally, the system, as delivered, should be ruggedized and ready to use with minimal logistics, training, and support. The system should meet the requirements to obtain an Authorization to Operate (ATO) at the Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) level. The HPC will be installed in the Centerline Avionics Bay (CAB), mounted underneath the midsection of the fuselage,” officials wrote.

Desired characteristics include a data read/write speed of 16 gigabytes per second; communications interfaces (both internal and external) to support a data transfer rate of 100 gigabytes per second; a maximum length, width, height and weight of 20 inches, 10 inches, 8 inches and 55 pounds, respectively; and a slew of other attributes related to power consumption, environmental considerations and security features.

The Corps wants a system at technology readiness level 7 or higher that can support a variety of software packages including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, PyTorch, YOLO, TensorFlow, and other open-source AI and machine learning tools, the RFI noted.

“One of the most important requirements to meet will be the security classification requirements,” officials wrote, acknowledging that those might be the most difficult for contractors to meet.

“We expect to need a Cross-Domain-Solution (CDS) and a High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptor (HAIPE) in conjunction with the HPC. Ideally, those would be embedded into the HPC enclosure but may sit outside,” they added.

Responses to the RFI are due by Nov. 24.

The Reapers that the Marines have been acquiring are 36 feet long with a 66-foot wing span, have up to 27 hours of endurance, can fly at an altitude of 50,000 feet, have a payload capacity of 3,000 pounds external and 850 pounds internal, and can fly at a true air speed of 240 knots, according to slides presented at the Modern Day Marine conference in May.

Increment one for the Corps’ so-called MUX MALE initiative is expected to include 20 MQ-9A Block 5 systems plus associated ground control stations and Sky Tower data networking and comms relay pods. At least a dozen of the drones have already been fielded.

In addition to a new high-performance computer that could be mounted on the Reaper, the service is also looking to make the uncrewed systems more difficult to detect by equipping them with a secretive high-tech pod that can counter enemy sensors.

“Some of the pods that go on our MQ-9s are classified … [so] I’ll be careful here,” Smith said in July at the Brookings Institution event, explaining that there’s a type of pod that “can mimic things that are sent to it that it detects, turn it around and send it back. So it becomes a hole, it becomes a black hole, it becomes mostly undetectable.”

DefenseScoop asked Smith if he was referring to an electronic decoy capability that makes it harder for adversaries to locate the drones.

“On the MQ-9 … without crossing classifications levels [in a public forum], it has the ability to somewhat disappear off of an enemy radar. I’ll just leave it at that,” he replied.

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The Marine Corps is acquiring MQ-9 long-endurance unmanned aerial systems to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and to serve as a secure communications gateway and network bridge for the joint force. Officials envision the platforms exchanging data with satellites, other drones and aircraft, ships, expeditionary advanced bases, land maneuver forces, ground control stations and land-based sensors.

The littoral combat regiments that the Corps is standing up are expected to receive the drones, which are built by General Atomics.

“What they bring with them is a sensing and making-sense capability,” Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said Tuesday at a Brookings Institution event.

“Some of the pods that go on our MQ-9s are classified … [so] I’ll be careful here,” he said. There’s a type of pod that “can mimic things that are sent to it that it detects, turn it around and send it back. So it becomes a hole, it becomes a black hole, it becomes mostly undetectable.”

DefenseScoop asked Smith if he was referring to an electronic decoy capability that makes it harder for adversaries to locate the drones.

“On the MQ-9 … without crossing classifications levels [in a public forum], it has the ability to somewhat disappear off of an enemy radar. I’ll just leave it at that,” he replied.

The Reapers that the Marines have been acquiring are 36-feet long with a 66-foot wing span, have up to 27 hours of endurance, can fly at an altitude of 50,000 feet, have a payload capacity of 3,000 pounds external and 850 pounds internal, and can fly at a true air speed of 240 knots, according to slides presented at the Modern Day Marine conference in May.

Increment one for the Corps’ MUX MALE initiative will include 20 MQ-9A Block 5 systems plus associated ground control stations and Sky Tower data networking and comms relay pods. At least 12 of the drones have already been fielded.

On Tuesday, Smith did not say how many platforms are currently equipped with the special pod that makes them stealthier.

While the Reaper gained prominence as a terrorist hunter-killer for the Air Force and CIA during the post-9/11 wars in the Middle East, the Marine Corps primarily wants to use the system for communications and data relay, electronic warfare, and ISR missions in the Indo-Pacific region.

The concept fits in with the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative (CJADC2), which calls for better connecting sensors, platforms and data streams of the U.S. military and key allies under a more unified network.

“If you’re going to be out-sticked by the adversary, then in terms of sensing and in terms of striking, then you’re of no value. You have to be able to sense at range, you have to be able to make sense of what’s happening, and you have to be able to share that data ubiquitously across the battlespace with the joint force, which is why our MQ-9 is so important,” Smith said.

Looking ahead to the future, the commandant envisions the Corps having drones that operate more autonomously than today’s systems.

“There’s nothing ‘unmanned’ about unmanned, because those sensors require someone to oversee them, require someone to monitor them, require someone to maintain them,” he noted. Many drones currently in the force are also remotely piloted.

Artificial intelligence-enabled systems could improve operations, he suggested.

He noted that Navy already has an automated Close-in Weapons System (CIWS) that can defend its ships against incoming missiles and other airborne threats by firing thousands of rounds per minute. Service members can set parameters for the CIWS to engage targets without additional human input, he explained.

“So there’s a human in the loop, the human turns control over to the machine at some point. And so I think that is kind of where we’re going to have to go. Because human in the loop on all of our systems is important and it’s required really by law,” Smith said. “You’ve got a human in the loop, but it doesn’t say how far back the human has to be. And I do think automation is kind of the wave of the future. I mean, it’s already here. And machine-to-machine learning is key, which is why our MQ-9s are so important because they’re talking to each other, they’re learning. They’re bouncing off ground sensors. They’re picking up signals from destroyers, from frigates. And they’re sensing and making sense of what’s happening and they’re ubiquitously passing that data to the ground force, to the surface force.”

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That includes technologies for the medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drone — a role being filled by the General Atomics-built MQ-9A Reaper.

While the Reaper gained prominence as a terrorist hunter-killer for the Air Force and CIA during the post-9/11 wars in the Middle East, the Marine Corps primarily wants to use the system for communications and data network relay, electronic warfare, and maritime domain awareness missions in the Indo-Pacific region.

As part of its airborne network extension operational concept, the Corps envisions the MUX MALE system as a digitally interoperable “network bridge” and secure comms gateway for the Naval and joint force, according to slides presented by Lt. Col. Leigh Irwin at the Modern Day Marine conference on Thursday. That includes exchanging data with satellites, other drones and aircraft, ships, expeditionary advanced bases, maneuver forces on land, ground control stations and land-based sensors.

The concept fits in with the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative, which calls for better connecting sensors, platforms and data streams of the U.S. military and key allies under a more unified network.

Naval Air Systems Command’s program office for multi-mission tactical UAS, also known as PMA-266, sees AI as a key enabling technology for the future.

“We are at PMA-266 leaning forward a little bit ahead of our some of our NAVAIR peers in the artificial intelligence arena. We’re working with [the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Office] to get essentially sensor autonomy is what we’re going after first. I think platform autonomy is definitely on the wish list, but I think it’s too far away for what we’re doing here. But sensor autonomy if we add cueing on the aircraft payloads, and then inherent sensors that come with MQ-9 Alpha so that the Marine on the ground doesn’t have to do all of that stuff — that’s a big one. So we’re aggressively pursuing that. I think it’s gonna take us a little longer than we expected because AI is hard. But we are pursuing some sensor abilities there,” Irwin, director of MUX/MALE programs, told DefenseScoop after her presentation.

“It’s more the algorithms and the ability to learn based on what it’s seeing and then — not make decisions — but inform the aircrew on what’s going on in the battlespace,” she added.

A key aim is to help reduce Marines’ workloads and make their operations more efficient and effective.

“It’s more cueing on what’s in the battlespace and us telling us, ‘Hey, this is what’s important to us.’ And so that sensor operator, maybe he gets an alert or he or she gets an alert when something’s important … rather than having to scan it and being like, ‘Oh, that’s important,’” Irwin explained.

Many unmanned aerial systems, such as the Reaper, are remotely piloted and currently require more manpower than the Marines would like to support their missions.

“Unmanned isn’t necessarily less labor intensive, I’ll say. I mean, you need almost as many Marines to fly an unmanned aircraft as you do a manned — and in some cases, more. So … any place where we can find a way to reduce the manpower it takes to do these missions and fly these aircraft, we’re looking at like [ground control stations] that can do more than one platform, AI that can help inform the operator of what’s going on so they don’t have to be staring at one screen the whole time and catch it themselves — things like that. Those are all types of things we’re looking at and hopefully to get to the future for MUX,” she said.

The Reapers that the Marines are getting for MUX MALE increment one are 36-feet long with a 66-foot wing span, have up to 27 hours of endurance, can fly at an altitude of 50,000 feet, have a payload capacity of 3,000 pounds external and 850 pounds internal, and can fly at a true air speed of 240 knots, according to Irwin’s slides.

Increment one will include 20 MQ-9A Block 5 systems plus associated ground control stations and Sky Tower data networking and comms relay pods. Twelve are currently fielded, according to her slides.

NAVAIR is also looking ahead at increment two.

“Our [initial operating capability] for increment two is going to be more in the 2026 time frame. I don’t expect [the AI-enabled sensor tools] to be ready then. I think it’ll be a couple or a few years after that, if I had to guess based on what we’re doing now. But we’re trying to get everything in place so that it can follow fairly quickly after we get the first piece of increment two,” Irwin said.

She told DefenseScoop that officials hope the technology will be ready for prime time before the end of the decade.

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These lethal, long-endurance, remotely-piloted aircraft — manufactured by General Atomics — have been used extensively by the Air Force to support overseas contingency operations and counterterrorism efforts during the post-9/11 wars. 

Marines have been using Reapers for the last two years in the Middle East as part of what Berger called “a contractor-owned and contractor-operated learning phase” that enabled the quick training of its operators, with help from the Air Force. Building on that work, late last year the Marine Corps formally acquired two MQ-9s.

During a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing on the Navy and Marines’ fiscal 2023 funding request, Berger confirmed the Corps’ latest plans to further extend its arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — and put them to use to help deter or defeat China, which the Pentagon sees as America’s primary “pacing challenge.”

“The next phase for us will be to expand the number of squadrons that we’re flying, the number of vehicles that we’re buying and the number of people that need to be trained. The first priority is pushing them out into the Pacific. We need to establish an MQ-9 squadron in Hawaii that can then push the [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] coverage more towards China,” Berger explained.  

Equipped with wide-range sensors, synthetic aperture radar, significant loitering capabilities and other sophisticated features, the MQ-9 can perform ISR missions and also strike targets with the weapons it carries.

At this point, the Marine Corps is poised to procure 10 Reapers that the Air Force was originally set to buy, Berger noted. Those drones were determined to be a better fit for the Corps’ operational needs in a medium-threat environment.

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