Marines on the East Coast will soon have their own MQ-9A Reaper training unit, which will train pilots and sensor operators from spring 2025.
An MQ-9A Reaper from the VMUT-2 (Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Training Squadron 2) “Night Owls” conducted its first flight at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, on Nov. 21, 2024. Part of MAG-14 (Marine Aircraft Group 14) within 2 MAW (2nd Marine Aircraft Wing), the squadron is preparing to receive its first class of student MQ-9 pilots and sensor operators by spring in 2025, a release said.
Marines on the East Coast will thus soon have their own MQ-9A Reaper training unit, which will train Reaper pilots and sensor operators before the assignment to operational units. The squadron began transitioning from an operational RQ-21A Blackjack squadron to an MQ-9A Reaper FRS (Fleet Replacement Squadron) in July 2023.
VMU-1, part of 3 MAW at Yuma, Arizona received the Marine Corps’ first MQ-9A Reaper in Aug. 2021. Until then the service had been leasing platforms from General Atomics and using the U.S. Air Force’s MQ-9As for familiarization. As of 2024, the USMC has received ten Reapers. Another ten are scheduled for delivery in 2025. Interestingly, MCAS Cherry Point was also the location where VMUT-2 assembled 2 MAW’s first MQ-9 Reaper on Apr. 10 this year.
Carolina Reaper🌶️
VMUT-2 conducted its first MQ-9A Reaper flight today at MCAS Cherry Point. The squadron will serve as the Marine Corps’ MQ-9 Fleet Replacement Squadron, tasked with training MQ-9 pilots and sensor operators.
(📸by @USMC Chief Warrant Officer 2 Akeel Austin) pic.twitter.com/jCtSm0qcMZ
— 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (@2nd_MAW) November 21, 2024
MQ-9A Reaper in the Marine Corps
“The first flight of the MQ-9A from VMUT-2 is a historic milestone […] and more than a technical success,” said VMUT-2s commanding officer, Lt. Col. Jonathan Boersma. The flight “represents a bold step forward in the future of unmanned aerial systems within the Marine Corps,” he added.
The service began looking at the Reaper since a Group 5 drone was more suited for the Extended Range Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary Medium-Altitude High-Endurance (MUX) concept that emerged around 2016. The program seeks to “use a single drone to conduct, coordinate and relay reconnaissance, counter-reconnaissance, communications, electromagnetic attack and conventional strike missions,” according to Marine Times. The smaller RQ-21A Blackjack offers limited capabilities in these areas.
The need for a heavier multirole surveillance-strike also led the USMC to establish the specialty code 7318 in 2020, that classified the military occupational specialty (MOS) for MQ-9 pilots, as well the MOS 8022 for sensor operators. By 2022, the service had trained 38 drone pilots, and in Dec. 2023, the Corps announced having trained 100 MQ-9 pilots.
MQ-9A Reaper
NAVAIR (Naval Air Systems Command) describes the MQ-9A Reaper as a MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) UAV, capable of performing “multi-mission ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) missions over land or sea.” The MQ-9A can touch distances of 2,574 km (1,600 miles) with an endurance of more than 20 hours. Adding external fuel tanks, each holding 589 kg (1,300 pounds) of fuel, can enhance that range and endurance.
The MQ-9A can carry an external payload of 1,361 kg on six wing hardpoints. The aircraft has a MTS-B EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infrared) turret, a Lynx Multi-mode Radar, a Multi-mode Maritime Radar, an Automated Identification System and communications relay systems.
The release added that the Block 5 sub-variant enables “future Marine Corps, naval, and joint force operating concepts by providing multisensor surveillance and reconnaissance; data gateway and relay capabilities through an aerial layer; and enabling or conducting the detection and engagement of targets during expeditionary, joint, and combined operations.”
A @USMC MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aircraft system with Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Training Squadron (VMUT) 2 conducts its first #flight at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina.
📸 Chief Warrant Officer 2 Akeel Austin@DeptofDefense | @2nd_MAW pic.twitter.com/XuLFULuvWU
— II MEF (@iimefmarines) November 22, 2024
Significance in the Pacific theater
The MALE-class MQ-9A forms part of the MAGTF (Marine Air-Ground Task Force) MUX (Unmanned Expeditionary) mission concept. Earlier in June, USMC MQ-9A Reapers from the VMU-3, from the I MEF (I Marine Expeditionary Force) were reported to be operating from the Philippines’ Basa Air Base.
The rotational deployment came amid face-offs between Manila and China’s Coast Guard vessels over the latter resupplying the BRP Sierra Madre in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal. This was also within a year of the VMU-3 under 1st MAW at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, inducting the MQ-9A Reaper and achieving IOC (Initial Operational Capability) on Aug. 2, 2023.
Besides its basic ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) functions, the MQ-9A provides “targeting capabilities for the MAGTF and joint force.” Additional missions include maritime domain awareness, airborne network extension, airborne early warning, and electronic support, said the Marines. In general, the MQ-9A forms a part of the ‘kill chain’ with elements from detection, identification, tracking and possibly engagement – if the drone is armed.
Other elements in the chain include warships, its aerial rotary-wing elements like the Navy and the Marines’ MH-60R helicopters, MV-22B, CMV-22B Ospreys, AEW&C (Airborne Warning and Control) aircraft, P-8A Poseidon MPAs (Maritime Patrol Aircraft) and alsoF-35B, F-35C and FA-18 Super Hornet, F/A-18C/D Hornets and the AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters.
The MQ-9 Reaper has the Gorgon Stare electro optical sensor. It’s got quite advanced capabilities
It consists of 9 cameras (8.1gigapixel in total) that constantly record the ground and can track multiple targets simultaneously.
It also has a standard 180 Megapixel IR/EO pic.twitter.com/VH5GGC9Pzd
— LogKa (@LogKa11) March 16, 2023
For instance, on May 8, 2024, MQ-9As were also involved in a sinking exercise during the Balikatan 2024 drills between the U.S. and the Philippines. During the SINKEX, the Philippine Navy flagship BRP Jose Rizal fired a SSM-700K C-Star anti-ship missile at the decommissioned tanker BRP Lake Caliraya, which was also struck by Philippine Air Force FA-50 and U.S. Air Force F-16C fighters.
“These capabilities will allow the MQ-9A Reaper to support future Marine Corps operating concepts, such as distributed maritime operations, littoral operations in a contested environment, and expeditionary advanced base operations as part of Force Design initiatives,” said the Apr. 10 statement.
