General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has opened a new Remote Split Operation (RSO) facility near Grand Forks, North Dakota, relocating MQ-9A Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) flight crews from Africa to the continental United States.

The facility, officially opened during an October 30, 2026, ribbon-cutting ceremony, will support U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) missions under a Contractor-Owned, Contractor-Operated (COCO) lease. According to a company press release, the transition to stateside operations is projected to save the U.S. Department of Defense more than $10 million annually while reducing the overseas footprint of contractor personnel.

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Transitioning to domestic remote operations

The RSO model allows the physical aircraft to remain deployed in foreign theaters while the flight crews operate the platforms from domestic control stations. This operational shift minimizes the risk to personnel deployed overseas and significantly lowers the logistical costs associated with maintaining forward-deployed crews.

GA-ASI Chief Executive Officer Linden Blue highlighted the dual benefits of the new North Dakota facility during the opening event.

“We’re excited to establish this new facility in North Dakota. Setting up our remote flight operations here in North Dakota will allow us to decrease the number of personnel required overseas, significantly reducing the cost of the COCO to the U.S. government and, more importantly, significantly increase the safety for our personnel. It will also bring approximately 50 well-paying jobs to the Grand Forks community.”

The U.S. military utilizes COCO leases to augment its organic fleet capabilities. Under this arrangement, contractor pilots operate the aircraft on behalf of combatant commands, providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data directly to military end-users.

U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), who worked through the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee to facilitate the project, emphasized the financial and strategic advantages of the relocation.

“General Atomics is moving pilots from Africa to Grand Forks to remotely fly their missions for AFRICOM. Doing so makes perfect sense, and that’s why we worked through the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee to make it happen. This new facility is not only a real cost savings for AFRICOM, which will save more than $10 million per year as pilots operate from Grand Forks rather than overseas, but it also brings a broader intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance portfolio to our state.”

A decade of expansion at the Grand Forks flight center

The new RSO facility is located at GA-ASI’s Flight Test & Training Center (FTTC), situated within the GrandSky UAS Business Park adjacent to Grand Forks Air Force Base. The FTTC began operations on July 18, 2016, established to provide the manufacturer with dedicated airspace and facilities for flight testing, aircraft maintenance, and aircrew training.

The addition of active AFRICOM mission support builds on the company’s extensive history with uncrewed platforms. GA-ASI’s Predator line of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) has been in operation for 30 years, accumulating more than 9 million total flight hours across various military and government operators.

The MQ-9A Reaper, the primary aircraft supported by the new RSO facility, is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) remotely piloted aircraft designed for persistent surveillance and strike capabilities. By operating the MQ-9A from the North Dakota facility, GA-ASI integrates active combatant command support into a site previously focused primarily on testing and training.

AirPro News analysis

The expansion of Remote Split Operations for COCO leases represents a maturation of how the U.S. Department of Defense procures and manages uncrewed intelligence gathering. By decoupling the aircrew from the physical aircraft deployment, combatant commands like AFRICOM can maintain persistent surveillance coverage over vast geographic areas without the political and logistical friction of expanding overseas troop or contractor footprints. This model effectively treats uncrewed aerial surveillance as a managed service, shifting the burden of personnel security and basing infrastructure back to the manufacturer’s domestic facilities.

Saab AB and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) have successfully flight-tested an unmanned airborne early warning capability by integrating the Saab LoyalEye radar onto an MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft system. The October 28, 2026 announcement validates the system’s ability to detect, track, and classify airborne targets during a representative operational scenario.

The milestone, detailed in a joint press release, demonstrates the viability of conducting persistent surveillance missions without exposing human aircrews to high-risk environments. The integrated platform is designed to operate either independently or in coordination with manned Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft.

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Validating unmanned early warning capabilities

The flight test took place at GA-ASI’s Desert Horizon Flight Operations Facility in Southern California. During the flight, the MQ-9B utilized the LoyalEye radar to perform airborne early warning (AEW) tasks traditionally reserved for manned aircraft. The system successfully demonstrated its capacity to manage airborne targets in a realistic operational environment, proving the concept of unmanned persistent surveillance.

“This flight test marks an important milestone in the development of unmanned airborne early warning capabilities,” said Carl-Johan Bergholm, Head of Saab’s business area Surveillance. “LoyalEye is designed to complement existing AEW&C solutions by providing additional flexibility and persistence, and today’s flight validates the capability in a representative operational scenario.”

David R. Alexander, President of GA-ASI, noted the strong market demand for the integrated system among global operators.

“This has been one of the most highly anticipated flight tests we have performed,” Alexander said. “The level of customer interest in AEW capability on MQ-9B throughout the world is extremely high. It just makes sense.”

The path to the LoyalEye and MQ-9B integration

The successful demonstration follows a multi-year development timeline. Saab and GA-ASI initially announced their partnership to develop an Unmanned Airborne Early Warning (UAEW) solution in 2025. The program advanced to the flight testing stage on May 19, 2026, when the LoyalEye radar sensor completed its first flight on an unmanned aircraft at the Desert Horizon facility. That initial flight marked the beginning of a multi-month evaluation phase that culminated in the October 28, 2026 validation flight.

Saab AB, a Swedish aerospace and defense company employing approximately 31,000 people, designs and manufactures advanced systems across aeronautics, weapons, command and control, sensors, and underwater systems. GA-ASI specializes in the manufacture of remotely piloted aircraft systems, radars, and electro-optic mission systems.

Unmanned AEW capabilities are engineered to surveil large geographic areas, providing persistent coverage in operating environments where endurance and geographic reach are critical. The LoyalEye system is specifically intended to complement existing manned AEW&C solutions, such as the Saab GlobalEye, by adding operational flexibility and persistence to a military’s sensor network.

AirPro News analysis

The integration of AEW capabilities onto a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) unmanned platform like the MQ-9B represents a structural shift in how Air Forces can deploy surveillance assets. Manned AEW&C platforms are high-value, low-density assets that are expensive to operate and vulnerable in contested airspace. By offloading routine or highly persistent radar coverage to an unmanned system, operators can preserve manned assets for complex battle management tasks. We expect this capability to generate significant interest among nations that already operate the MQ-9B or are looking to expand their maritime and border surveillance networks without the procurement costs of a dedicated manned AEW fleet.

Brazilian aerospace startup Moya Aero has successfully completed the first full transition flight of its full-scale MOYA 256 autonomous electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) cargo drone. The milestone, announced on October 21, 2026, validates the aircraft’s aerodynamics, propulsion, and flight-control systems as it shifts between vertical lift and forward wing-borne flight.

The transition flight represents the most complex aerodynamic phase for any eVTOL aircraft. In a press release, Moya Aero stated the achievement moves the program significantly closer to operational deployment and its targeted 2027 entry into commercial service.

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Validating the tandem-wing architecture

The MOYA 256 utilizes a tandem-wing design that rotates its fuselage between vertical and horizontal flight. This configuration allows the aircraft to use the same propulsion system for both phases of flight. By eliminating the need for separate lift and cruise motors, the design preserves payload capacity while enabling operations from compact areas without conventional runways.

Moya Aero reported that the MOYA 256 has completed nearly 200 flights during its test campaign. Across the company’s broader development program, which includes subscale models and special-purpose test aircraft, Moya Aero has logged nearly 500 total flights.

Moya Aero chief executive officer Alexandre Zaramella highlighted the technical difficulty of the achievement, noting the lack of historical data for this specific aerodynamic approach.

“One of the main challenges is the limited studies available for this type of aircraft. This is a new and highly innovative type of aircraft, and we are pioneers worldwide,” Zaramella said. “Completing the transition with the full-scale MOYA 256 is a major milestone toward operational deployment.”

Development timeline and market positioning

Founded in 2020 by Zaramella and chief operating officer Renata Marins Paolillo, Moya Aero operates as a spin-off from aeronautical engineering firm ACS Aviation. The company is based in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, and receives backing from the Brazilian government innovation agency FINEP.

The MOYA 256 is designed specifically for middle-mile logistics, medical deliveries, and agricultural missions. In regions with vast agricultural sectors like brazil, autonomous cargo drones offer a method to transport supplies or equipment across large properties without relying on underdeveloped road infrastructure. The aircraft features a payload capacity of 30 kilograms (66 pounds) and an operational range of 160 kilometers (99 miles).

The full-scale transition flight follows a structured testing progression. Moya Aero completed the first hover flight of its eVTOL prototype on November 15, 2023. By August 2024, the company had achieved its first transition flight using a subscale prototype. The company officially unveiled its Electric Drone Family, comprising the MOYA 256 and the larger MOYA 760, on June 2, 2025.

Market reception for the autonomous cargo platform has been positive. Moya Aero reports holding 119 letters of intent for its aircraft portfolio, indicating strong interest from logistics and agribusiness operators seeking sustainable delivery solutions.

Scaling up to the MOYA 760

While the MOYA 256 advances through its flight test campaign, Moya Aero is simultaneously developing a larger variant to handle heavier logistics requirements. In July 2026, the company began manufacturing the first full-scale prototype of the MOYA 760.

The MOYA 760 is designed to carry a 190-kilogram payload. Both aircraft in the Moya drone family share a common architecture. They utilize the same battery modules and flight software, a strategy intended to simplify fleet operations, pilot training, and maintenance for future operators.

Moya Aero aims to conduct the first flight of the MOYA 760 prototype by the end of 2026. The concurrent development of both platforms aligns with the company’s goal of bringing a comprehensive cargo drone family to market by 2027.

AirPro News analysis

We view the successful full-scale transition flight as a critical de-risking event for Moya Aero. Transitioning from vertical thrust to wing-borne lift is notoriously difficult, requiring complex software to manage aerodynamic instability. Achieving this with a full-scale prototype separates mature engineering programs from conceptual designs. Furthermore, by focusing exclusively on autonomous cargo rather than passenger transport, Moya Aero bypasses the most stringent human-certification requirements. This cargo-first strategy provides a faster, more realistic path to revenue generation and operational maturity while passenger eVTOL developers continue to navigate complex regulatory frameworks.