The first flight of the new Gray Eagle 25M drone manufactured by General Atomics for the US Army has been recorded.

General Atomics Company successfully conducted the inaugural flight of the United States Army’s new Gray Eagle 25M (GE-25M) drone, a significant advancement in military aviation and unmanned aerial system (UAS) technology. As the company reported yesterday, the unmanned aerial vehicle made its first flight on December 5 last year at its El Mirage, California facilities. The inaugural flight of the Gray Eagle 25M took place on December 1, 2023 after being awarded a contract worth approximately US$389,000.00 for the production of a test aircraft.

Specifically, the tests conducted were focused on carrying out critical flight operations, where the performance of the flight computer was evaluated, increasing its processing capacity by five times, while data storage capacity saw an 80-fold increase. These improvements push the processing capability of the new Gray Eagle 25M to the limit; To meet increasing demands for greater automation and autonomy. During the inaugural flight, the drone’s HFE 2.0 engine and power generation systems were also tested. This new engine was designed in collaboration with Project Manager Endurance Unscrewed Aircraft Systems (PM EUAS), significantly reduces maintenance and practically eliminates the obligation to implement periodic reviews,

Thanks to its advanced performance and maintainability capabilities, the Gray Eagle 25M serves as a versatile multi-domain operations platform capable of deploying multiple advanced electronic warfare and intelligence pod-mounted sensors. In this regard, General Atomics Chairman David R. Alexander said: “In Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) environments, Soldiers need aircraft to operate with improved reliability while minimizing personnel and equipment, so the GE-25M significantly reduces the maintenance burden on the aircraft. “

On the other hand, it is important to mention that General Atomics Company collaborates with PM EUAS to provide an open architecture facility plug and play. Continuing along this line, it is worth clarifying that the integration of open architecture ground and air systems significantly strengthens the ability to incorporate new capabilities and resist electronic threats; Among other benefits.

The inaugural flight of the Gray Eagle 25M represents an important step in the modernization program of this drone, fundamentally contributing to the development of capabilities for multi-domain operations of the United States Army and its National Guard units. It is important to specify that it is expected that, once entered into service, the service horizon of the GE-25M will be estimated until 2050.

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