The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) a $99.2 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the development of a “hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial systems (GHOST)”. The AFRL has not unveiled the exact meaning of GHOST, assuming it is an acronym.

The announcement was published on 27 May, but both AFRL and GA-ASI remain tightly lipped, at present, on the exact nature of this project.

The contract announcement only specifies that the new drone will “provide capabilities across a spectrum of contested environments”, suggesting that it will be either more survivable, or perhaps more expendable, than the current USAF uncrewed workhorse, the MQ-9A REAPER also by GA-ASI.

The hybrid-electric propulsion is likely to combined a heavy-fuel engine with electric generators. The use of ducted fans should enable the airframe to incorporate the necessary stealth features to dramatically reduce the radar signature compared to the MQ-9A, while retaining long endurance.

GA-ASI has been working on hybrid-electric propulsion solutions for some time. A small-scale application of an hybrid-electric ducted fan configuration is planned in the SPARROWHAWK expendable, air launched and air recovered drone that the company is developing as an Air Launched Effect for the MQ-9 family. SPARROWHAWK is small (less than 100 kg) and apart from its propulsion it is unique for its ability not only to be launched in the air but also recovered with a cable-snatching recovery mechanism.

Larger applications of hybrid propulsion are however known to be in the works: in July 2024, speaking to AviationWeek, GA-ASI had revealed that a ducted-fan thruster solution for a “large” UAS was already being tested on the ground. In the occasion, GA-ASI also said that the new propulsion solution was specifically meant to progress to self-funded flight trials on the GAMBIT 4 modular fuselage, also an internal development. Under the headline GAMBIT, GA-ASI has autonomously worked on a concept for highly modular, interchangeable fuselages that can be adapted to various missions and flying characteristics by using different wing profiles and propulsion arrangements while retaining a common “core”.

All concept images shown by GA-ASI relating to GAMBIT 4 show a stealthy flying wing with more than a passing resemblance to the shapes of the B-21 bomber. GAMBIT 4’s main mission was described as “combat reconnaissance”.

In 2024, GA-ASI said that a 13,000-lbs GAMBIT 4 would fly in 2026. This implies a sizeable drone, some 3,000 lbs heavier than an MQ-9A at maximum take-off weight. Endurance would be in the region of 60 hours. Given these “clues”, it is assumed, despite GA-ASI and AFRL’s silence, that the GHOST award and GAMBIT 4 are very closely related and that the project is aimed at “MQ-Next”, the development of a successor for the REAPER.

Work under the current contract award is scheduled to be complete by August 2028.

It should be noted that GA-ASI is not the only one investing on hybrid-electric propulsion solutions and that this is not the first time AFRL shows its interest either: Northrop Grumman has already built a similar flying wing demonstrator, under contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA for the Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion Aircraft Demonstration (SHEPARD) project. The Northrop Grumman demonstrator, called XRQ-73 and built in collaboration with Scaled Composites, was unveiled in 2024. It is however much smaller, at 1,250 lbs, than the stated GA-ASI target for GAMBIT 4.

AFRL is involved in the DARPA effort. Going further back in time, the 2000s had seen another hybrid-electric propelled flying wing X-aircraft, the XRQ-72A that Scaled Composites developed for the project then known as “Great Horned Owl (GHO)”, for a new intelligence-gathering uncrewed aircraft.

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