GA-ASI Opens Remote Split Operation Facility to Remotely Fly MQ-9s for AFRICOM

GA-ASI announced the opening of a new Remote Split Operation facility in North Dakota to remotely fly missions for AFRICOM under an existing Contractor-Owned, Contractor Operated (COCO) lease of its MQ-9A Reapers.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) opened on Oct. 30, 2026, a new Remote Split Operation (RSO) facility at its Flight Test & Training Center (FTTC) near Grand Forks, North Dakota. The facility will be used by the company’s crews to remotely fly missions in support of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).

In fact, GA-ASI leased to AFRICOM six MQ-9A Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) under a Contractor-Owned, Contractor Operated (COCO) contract. This contract, known as the AFRICOM Reconnaissance Intelligence Exploitation Services (ARIES), sees GA-ASI as a subcontractor to SMX from 2022 to 2029.

The company says that the office of U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) “was instrumental in establishing this support center in North Dakota.” The senator, who was at the ceremony together with GA-ASI CEO Linden Blue, said this facility will allow AFRICOM to “save more than $10 million per year.”

“General Atomics is moving pilots from Africa to Grand Forks to remotely fly their missions for AFRICOM,” said Hoeven. “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.”

From left, Shannon Tolliver, SMX Sr. Vice President, Global Combatant Commands and C6ISR; GA-ASI CEO Linden Blue; Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND); Erin Roesler, GA-ASI Director of Air Systems Training; Jason Hammond and GA-ASI Senior Director, Leasing and Services during ribbon cutting ceremony of new RSO facility near Grand Forks, N.D. | Source: GA-ASI Blue similarly highlighted the cost savings, as well as the personnel’s increased safety. The number of personnel involved in the move has not been disclosed.

“We’re excited to establish this new facility in North Dakota,” said Blue. “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.”

ARIES Task Order

In October 2022, SMX announced it was awarded a $2.3 billion contract for the AFRICOM Reconnaissance Intelligence Exploitation Services (ARIES), in support of the command’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations and intelligence analysis. GA-ASI and Aevex Aerospace were later awarded as the subcontractors, the former proving the aircraft and the latter proving intelligence analysts.

“ARIES, like its predecessor task order, is a complex, multi-tenant task order providing cutting-edge full lifecycle intelligence solutions through cloud-enabled data insights and decision analytics,” said SMX and GA-ASI in their statements, describing this effort. “ARIES’ objective is to improve the United States’ ability to observe, orient, decide and act faster and more effectively on the information provided through an innovative system of systems intelligence collection and dissemination eco-system.”

U.S. Air Force Senior Airmen Zackary Short and Keven Torres, forward area refueling point (FARP) specialists assigned to the 26th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, provide fuel to an MQ-9 Reaper from a HC-130J Combat King II aircraft, enabling a rapid, combat turnaround and launch at an undisclosed location within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Dec. 11, 2022. | Source: U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Daniel Asselta GA-ASI specifically added it would provide a total of six MQ-9A aircraft, making up three lines with two aircraft each. The contract in support of the task order has a seven-year duration extending through 2029, if all option periods are exercised.

AFRICOM has not provided additional details about ARIES, and nor did the companies involved. MQ-9s have been spotted in multiple locations, although it is unclear where the COCO aircraft are based.

Interestingly, in November 2022 Air Forces Central (AFCENT) released images on the DVIDS network showing unmarked MQ-9s during a forward area refueling point (FARP) exercise. The caption did not provide info about the unit operating the drone.

On the other hand, following a similar exercise in March 2023, captions explicitly mentioned the MQ-9s were assigned to the 361st Expeditionary Attack Squadron. The aircraft were in the dark, making it impossible to see whether markings were applied to the aircraft.

It should be noted that this can’t be seen as a definitive proof that the aircraft involved in the November 2022 were the COCO MQ-9s. However, MQ-9s have commonly operated with at least the U.S. Air Force insignia painted in the area while in the CENTCOM and AFRICOM AORs.