General Atomics unveils new 'Mojave' drone with 16 Hellfire missiles - Breaking Defense

With the ability to carry 16 Hellfire missiles and take off and land in a dirt road, the new Mojave drone revealed today by General Atomics is designed to perform in dirty and dangerous environments where enemies are hiding.

But first, it just needs to find a customer.

The original idea behind Mojave — officially disclosed today, about a month after Breaking Defense first reported on it — was to build a drone that special operators could take into austere conditions that had a larger payload than the company’s MQ-1C Gray Eagle used by the Army, said Dave Alexander, president of General Atomics aeronautics business.

But there’s no clear military program of record where the brand new drone fits, and, so far, US Special Operations Command has shown little interest in unmanned aircraft for its Armed Overwatch requirement to replace its U-28 Draco fleet. But that doesn’t mean General Atomics has given up on getting the Mojave involved, especially in the special ops mission set.