MQ-9B and Gambit Series: Advancing European Defense Capabilities
GA-ASI will build Gambit aircraft in Europe, partnered with European-based companies, with airframes available for international procurement starting in 2027.
Analysts noted that after decades of underinvestment, Berlin is flipping the script by moving ahead with a seismic increase in defense spending, set to hit a high mark in 2029 of €150 billion a year.
The Trump administration "mean[s] business now, and they want to see the business deals happen and where we've been, maybe stuck in policy and bureaucrats," GA-ASI President David Alexander told Breaking Defense on the show floor at IDEX 2025.
These two MQ-9s are separate from the three aircraft currently on a contractor-owned, contractor-operated lease to the Japan Coast Guard.