DUBAI AIRSHOW — The biggest potential deal for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in the Middle East may have just gotten a lot bigger, with a top executive telling Breaking Defense that talks now include the prospect of up to 200 collaborative combat aircraft for Saudi Arabia.
“The deal is still in [the] works and there’s been a lot of effort since last time we talked, and it includes MQ-9 Bravo short takeoff and landing, and it includes a collaborative combat Gambit series,” GA-ASI’s president David Alexander said on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow on Monday.
Specifically, Alexander said current talks revolve around up to 130 MQ-9Bs in addition to the 200 CCAs. In February, Alexander hinted to the “biggest potential deal” in GA-ASI history in the region, but at the time only disclosed that the MQ-9s were under discussion.
Alexanders’ comments come as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits US President Donald Trump in the White House. Ahead of that highly anticipated visit, Trump revealed the US would sell its much-coveted fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter jet to Riyadh. Spokespeople for the Saudi Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to an after-hours request for comment for this report.
Meanwhile, on the show floor here in Dubai, GA displayed a full-scale model of the YFQ-42, its prototype entry for the US Air Force’s CCA program and a member of the Gambit family of unmanned systems.
Should Gambit CCA end up as part of a larger deal with Saudi Arabia, Alexander said the deal would include production localization in the Kingdom.
“That [localization] is a big part of the program, and […] the bigger the program gets, the easier it is to bring in indigenous content,” Alexander said, adding that “if it’s small numbers, it’s not easy to make it affordable, but with the numbers that we’re talking about with Saudi, of course, indigenous content is very workable.”
He added that “the beauty of unmanned combat aircraft is that you can build the aircraft at a much more affordable, much higher rate, and now you can swarm them against the enemy.”
Alexander said that other countries in the region also have expressed interest in joining CCA.
“Oh yes, so in this region for sure [there is interest], and I mean that’s why we have the model here [in the UAE] and I think,” he said.
After Dubai, the model will tour two major shows in the region early next year: Dimdex in Qatar and World Defense Show in KSA.
Interest in GA’s CCA may have been boosted Monday by what the company said was a successful effort in the US to control the drone from the cockpit of an F-22 fighter jet.
“We controlled it through an F-22 using a tablet on the pilot’s knee through line of sight radios to show the art of the possible of this happening,” Alexander told Breaking Defense.
Regarding the level of complexity and distraction such a flight might cause to the F-22 pilot, Alexander responded, “we’ve made the commands very, very simple, and so the autonomy takes care of the rest.”
The UAE’s Quest For MQ-9
As talks with the Saudis progress, the UAE has been waiting for many years now for its own MQ-9B deal. That deal was previously held up when it was part of the package with Lockheed Martin’s F-35, but even when it was separated from the fighter jet, the deal didn’t reach the Letter of Acceptance stage as anticipated in February.
Alexander told Breaking Defense, “The deal is still offered out there.We were waiting for some conditions to be removed. They have been removed a couple of weeks ago. And so now we’re moving forward just to see what’s next, but the offer is there.”
“It’s a maritime MQ-9 Bravo anti-submarine warfare. It also includes five EDGE weapons integrated on the platform as well, so it’s still in the works,” he added.
PHOTOS: Dubai Airshow 2025
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