The flight series will provide first-hand view of the capabilities of the MQ-9 RPA to European nations. Credit: General Atomics.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) has started demonstration flights of its MQ-9 Guardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) in Greece to showcase the capabilities of the system.

The Hellenic Air Force (HAF) is hosting a series of demonstration flights from Larissa Air Base in Greece.

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The flights are aimed at demonstrating the maritime surveillance capabilities of the MQ-9 system.

They will also give a glimpse of the aircraft’s detect and avoid (DAA) system capabilities.

GA-ASI CEO Linden Blue said: “We appreciate the HAF’s support with our customer demonstrations. GA-ASI is highlighting the maritime surveillance and civil airspace integration capabilities of our unmanned aircraft for our European customers.

“Our long-endurance RPA (25-40 hours per sortie, depending on configuration) will be on display and provide insight into the importance of maritime patrol, as well as showcase our DAA avionics system that will support our goal of flying RPA in civil airspace.”

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The flight series will be witnessed by representatives from European nations.

An unidentified HAF official said: “The HAF looks forward to seeing the results of this demonstration. In addition to defence capabilities, these aircraft provide maritime patrol and EEZ monitoring, border surveillance, support for search and rescue efforts, and over-watch of forest fire response efforts.”

The Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) allows for detection of cooperative aircraft.

The air-to-air Due Regard Radar (DRR) detects non-cooperative aircraft and enables collision avoidance capability.

MQ-9 RPA will also display the Raytheon SeaVue maritime surface-search radar during the flight series.

SeaVue multi-mode radar will provide the capability to continuously track maritime targets.