General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced Tuesday it is teaming up with South Korean firm Hanwha Aerospace to develop and produce a short-takeoff-and-landing version of the Gray Eagle drone.
The two firms signed the partnership agreement Tuesday, General Atomics said, and will work together to design and build a production-representative version of the drone. General Atomics said it has already flown a self-funded prototype, which the company said shows it can quickly move from development to delivery.
General Atomics expects this Gray Eagle’s first flight to take place in 2027, and deliveries could start the following year. The STOL version of the Gray Eagle is expected to be sold to customers worldwide, including the U.S. and South Korean militaries.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Hanwha “are committed to investing in this project and building development and production capabilities in South Korea,” said David Alexander, president of General Atomics’ aeronautics division. “We’ll be leveraging the expertise of both companies to quickly bring the Gray Eagle STOL to global customers,” he said.
Unlike other Grey Eagle models, which General Atomics builds in San Diego, California, this version will be built at a newly established production facility in South Korea. General Atomics said building the drone in South Korea will help save money. General Atomics will be in charge of final integration of the new system.
General Atomics said its STOL version of the Gray Eagle will be able to take off and land from dirt roads, open fields, beaches, parking lots and other rough and semi-improved surfaces. This will greatly expand the drone’s operational usefulness to services that need to conduct reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition or counter-drone missions while deployed in the field.
In August 2023, General Atomics flew its demonstrator prototype — dubbed Mojave — from a dirt strip near El Mirage, California. During that test, Mojave took off multiple times from the dirt runway with as little as 586 feet and landed in distances as short as 335 feet.
The company said at the time that Mojave would provide military services a way to rapidly deploy a drone to nontraditional forward locations that don’t require typical runways or other infrastructure. Mojave could be transported in a C-130 and rapidly assembled and employed, General Atomics said. Mojave’s wings are able to carry up to 16 Hellfire missiles or similar armaments, General Atomics said. It has a ruggedized and weatherized airframe allowing it to operate in austere conditions or during rough weather.
General Atomics and Hanwha also worked together in 2024 to fly the Mojave demonstrator from a South Korean navy amphibious landing ship off the coast of South Korea. Mojave has also been launched and recovered from the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in 2023 and conducted live fire testing at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona in 2024.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
