General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has announced an agreement with the UAE’s Edge Group for the integration of smart weapons onto the MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA). The UAE already operates GA-ASI’s unarmed Predator XP and hopes to acquire the larger and weapons-capable MQ-9B.

Despite being approved by the U.S. State Department in November 2020 to receive up to 18 SkyGuardians together with associated systems and weapons, the estimated $2.97 billion deal was frozen as part of the cancellation of the UAE’s F-35 fighter purchase. Efforts to resurrect the MQ-9B sale continue.

Under the deal with Edge, a range of the Emirati company's weapons will be integrated, including the Desert Sting guided glide weapons and Thunder family of low-cost precision munitions from Edge member Halcon, along with the Al Tariq family of modular precision-guided munitions.

“We’re excited to work with Edge on this initiative,” said GA-ASI president David Alexander. “Integrating home-grown capabilities onto our customer platforms is something we’ve done a lot, but we’ve never before integrated a non-NATO weapon system onto one of our RPA platforms.”

GA-ASI hopes that the deal will lead to further integration of Emirati weapons, sensors, and systems into the company’s RPAs, for both the UAE and other nations.