
GA-ASI Completes MQ-9B 'Flight Into Known Icing' Flight Tests20.4.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
Global RPA Leader Is Certifying MQ-9B for FIKI SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / April 20, 2026 / General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has conducted a series of flight tests aimed at certifying the MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) for Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI). The flight tests began last year, and all planned testing was successfully completed in early April from GA-ASI's Flight Test & Training Center (FTTC) near Grand Forks, North Dakota, using a company-owned MQ-9B. The FIKI flights build on earlier successful flight tests to evaluate flight characteristics with simulated ice shapes adhered to the aircraft as well as the aircraft's successful Cold Weather Validation and flights in the Arctic. FIKI certification will expand MQ-9B's abilities to provide all-weather surveillance capabilities for the many nations that have purchased the system for their military and civil support missions. The tests were flown using GA-ASI Internal Research and Development fundi



















