⚡️ 🚫 2 | From Radar Eavesdropping to Early Warning; New Missions for MQ-1 and MQ-9
⏺Simultaneously with the program for a cheaper Reaper successor, the upgrade of existing drones continues. On October 15, 2026, General Atomics announced the completion of testing of the SNC-built electronic support system on the MQ-1C Gray Eagle ER. This system has been tested for receiving and collecting radar signals and enhancing long-range identification.
⏺On October 28, General Atomics and Saab also published the results of the LoyalEye radar test on the MQ-9B. According to the manufacturers, the drone simultaneously tracked several air and sea targets during the tests. The radar is installed in external pods and is being developed for airborne early warning missions.
⏺The new news concerning the MQ-1 family relates to the Army's MQ-1C; the older MQ-1B Predator model was retired from U.S. Air Force service in March 2018.

⚡️ 🚫 3 | Multi-thousand-dollar drones; the US pursues mass procurement.
⏺In the category of small drones, the figures are much lower. The US "Drone Superiority" program, in its September 28, 2026 announcement, has allocated approximately $450 million for the third phase and anticipates procuring nearly 60,000 drones, with the option to purchase up to 40,000 more. The stated price for a long-range attack mission aircraft, unarmed, is $5,000, and for a close combat mission system, it is $3,000. These figures pertain to the procurement program and do not indicate full delivery of this quantity.
⏺LUCAS is another example of US entry into this domain; a one-way attack drone for which CENTCOM had announced the cost per platform to be approximately $35,000. The formation of its unit in the region was announced in December 2025, and in the same month, its launch from the USS "Santa Barbara" was recorded. LUCAS is designed for one-way attack and has a different mission than the continuous reconnaissance and repetitive attacks of the MQ-9.

⚡️ 🔴 Air paralysis strikes the United States.. All flights grounded from the country's airports until further notice.
The US Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all flights from United States airports until further notice, due to an exceptional malfunction in communication systems that affected several air traffic control centers, which prompted authorities to take precautionary safety measures, according to American media.
The US Secretary of Transportation affirmed that technical teams are investigating the malfunction, noting that the problem affected air traffic control centers along the country's air routes, and that authorities will deal with incoming international flights separately, with updates to be issued as soon as they are available.
In a remarkable development, The New York Times reported the disappearance of notifications related to the air traffic control system from the Federal Aviation Administration website, while quoting experts that more than a thousand aircraft were flying towards American airports concurrently with the decision to ground flights.
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