General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and the Arizona Army National Guard (AZARNG) met over the summer to finalize plans for the arrival of eight Gray Eagle® 25Ms (GE 25M) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in September 2027.
Arizona will become the first state to establish a UAS unit with Gray Eagle 25Ms as part of the Army National Guard. Four additional units are scheduled for fielding by the end of 2029.
Arizona is part of the Army National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division. The Army National Guard’s objective is to field eight Divisional UAS Companies, one for each of its Divisions. Once fully operational, the Gray Eagle 25M can deploy in support of global missions for Combatant Command (COCOM) commanders and defend against threats in the Western Hemisphere. The Army National Guard currently has three Gray Eagle 25M units funded by Congress and is already on contract with GA-ASI.
Patrick Shortsleeve, GA-ASI Vice President of DoD Strategic Development, commented, “The Gray Eagle has a proven record of performance with 1 million hours of safe operations, including automatic takeoff and landing capability. When you factor in its extensive capabilities, the Gray Eagle is a cost-effective UAS that excels as an enabler for Fires, Maneuver, Network, and Intelligence operations. It is also an integral part of the Army Aviation team, bringing advanced autonomy while working closely with manned rotary-wing systems to achieve overmatch against pacing threats.”
The Gray Eagle 25M also has the ability to support long range organic payloads/sensors with Launched Effects to remain outside threat weapons in terrestrial & maritime operations and counter-UAS in addition to its Reconnaissance Security Targeting and Acquisition (RSTA) missions. It will become the only UAS in the ARNG’s arsenal.
The fielding of Gray Eagle 25M in Arizona and the 40th Infantry Division will increase the overall capability of the Army National Guard and aligns with a renewed emphasis on unmanned systems across the Department of War. The Gray Eagle 25M in the Army National Guard will support the full spectrum of combat operations abroad as well as domestic missions including disaster response. The Gray Eagle 25M’s nearly 40-hour endurance and significant payload capacity combined with its open architecture to add sensor, network, kinetic and non-kinetic effects potentially enables the Army National Guard to be an asset for Golden Dome missions.
Gray Eagle 25M is a modernized version of the Gray Eagle ER designed to meet the U.S. Army’s needs for expeditionary operations and advanced sensors. The aircraft is delivered equipped with the EagleEye® multi-mode radar and electro-optical/infrared sensors with options for additional payloads. Equipping ARNG Divisions with organic Gray Eagle 25Ms makes possible the necessary mission planning, targeting, communications, detailed coordination, and realistic training needed to employ the systems successfully in combat. Gray Eagle 25M will allow ARNG Divisions to execute Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) without risk to humans for the first time.
