US Air Force MQ-Next

MQ-Next was the US Air Force's planned successor to the MQ-9 Reaper. The Air Force issued a request for information on 3 June 2020, and Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and General Atomics showed concept designs that year. A second request for information in spring 2021 widened the scope to a family of unmanned systems, and by October 2021 the service had moved away from a direct MQ-9 follow-on under the MQ-Next name.