GA-ASI and Kongsberg have taken a step toward providing standoff strike capability by integrating the Joint Strike Missile into the MQ-9B family of remotely piloted aircraft.
In a move to integrate air-launched standoff strike capabilities on the MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) first announced several months ago, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has now announced the conclusion of its System Requirements Review (SRR) and Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for integration of the Norwegian Joint Strike Missile (JSM) on the MQ-9B.
Separately from the Farnborough International Airshow 2026, GA-ASI said the SRR and PDR were completed in Norway on 30 June 2026. GA-ASI stated that this effort has received funding from both companies and that the new capabilities will soon be available to the MQ-9B and its users.
GA-ASI quoted Jens Gjestvang, Kongsberg’s senior vice president of missiles and aerostructures, as saying that the JSM’s integration with unmanned platforms such as the MQ-9B “enables a highly capable strike mission set that can be used in conjunction with or independently of the piloted aircraft.” “This is an operational capability that is receiving greater attention across the defense sector,” he added.
GA-ASI and Kongsberg have successfully completed a review to integrate the Joint Strike Missile Weapon System into the #MQ9B multi-mission #UAS.
Read the full release: https://t.co/yFx9QTaI3Z
#Farnborough Airshow pic.twitter.com/KEKuifvKas
— General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI) (@GenAtomics_ASI) July 20, 2026
Despite seeing heavy losses of previous MQ-9A variants in the current Middle East conflict, the MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian families have found relevance in mission sets that require them to operate at great distances in permissive environments, but with very long base capabilities. In addition to long-range air-to-ground attack, it includes anti-submarine warfare (ASW), counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), airborne early warning (AEW), and electromagnetic spectrum warfare roles.
Drones can also relieve the burden of more expensive manned systems in these roles. Air-to-air engagement is another evolving mission set, already seen in the development of the MQ-28A Ghost Bat, Kizilelma and FQ-44A Fury.
JSM integrated into MQ-9B
GA-ASI Vice President Niki Johnson emphasized the industry’s dynamism in combining the capabilities of two existing platforms to meet battlefield requirements. “We recognize the value JSM brings to the MQ-9B platform, and this integration effort demonstrates how the industry can work together effectively to integrate new capabilities and deliver them quickly to the warfighter,” Johnson said.
GA-ASI called the MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian models “industry-leading unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)” and Kongsberg’s JSM “a best-in-class weapon system capable of being used against high-priority targets.”
Securing the Indo-Pacific requires aircraft that do more and travel farther.
See how the #MQ9B goes far at #Avalon2023 at booth 3M11. pic.twitter.com/NJOYnUbw9s
— General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI) (@GenAtomics_ASI) February 28, 2023
“The MQ-9B is a long-duration unmanned platform capable of performing missions over land and sea. JSM is a fifth-generation stealth air-to-ground missile that can be used against high-priority targets,” the press release added.
In its February announcement that it would integrate the JSM, the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Missile (JASSM), and the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) with the MQ-9B, GA-ASI said its engineers are already studying structural and kinematic aspects, such as the missile’s impact on the drone’s airframe range, speed and stability.
Use cases
The company also named a vast area of the Western Pacific as a theater promising new capabilities. This means maintaining at-risk targets at long ranges for longer periods of time in an independent yet mutually supportive role for manned aircraft.
The press release for this announcement also provided additional real-world use cases. The MQ-9B can loiter at a distance outside the enemy’s long-range Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) weapons engagement umbrella, and through man-in-the-loop control from ground control stations and networking with other manned assets, the MQ-9B can deploy long-range missiles when ordered from one of these elements.
At the time, GA-ASI said it “plans to fly one or more of these new weapons as early as 2026,” reflecting its confidence in integrating heavy missiles into the High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) class RPA.
At the time, GA-ASI’s conceptual representation included three MQ-9Bs, one of which carried three JSMs, and the other two each carried a single JASSM and one LRASM. The company did not specify whether this configuration represents the actual payload capacity of the MQ-9B with these missiles.
SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian can carry a payload of 2,155 kg (4,750 lb) on nine hardpoints (eight under the wings and one centerline). With a JASSM weight of 1,200 kg (2,600 lb), an LRASM weight of 1,250 kg (2,760 lb), and a JSM weight of 416 kg (917 lb), we can say that the renderings reasonably reflect the actual configuration that will be used in the MQ-9B.
F-35A + Joint Strike Missile (JSM) = maritime superiority of #Norway and #Japan 😉 The long-range JSM is the only 5th generation cruise missile designed to be launched from the F-35’s internal weapons bay. It was successfully tested last February. #avgeeks #aviation #news pic.twitter.com/VN3zzfVOv3
— Air Power (@RealAirPower1) December 16, 2022
The 2023 Australian Avalon exhibition iteration already saw the MQ-9B SkyGuardian with a pair of JSMs under each wing. This conceptual drawing also shows a maritime search radar and two Sledgehammer EW pods at the bottom.
This may indicate that recent efforts will have to drop both of these payloads to carry the JSM and rely on the missile’s post-launch mission update capability for target guidance and updates. According to the manufacturer, each JSM weighs 416 kg (917 lb).
