A medium-altitude, long-endurance drone landed on a dirt track that tanks drive down, in the middle of a live-fire range, while a simulated battle was going on around it. Then it took off again and carried on with the mission.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Hanwha Aerospace pulled that off in South Korea on 16 September, and GA-ASI is calling it the first time any MALE-class uncrewed aircraft has flown operations from a simulated battlefield. The aircraft was the Mojave STOL, wearing South Korean markings and carrying four inert Hellfires.
Informazioni rapide
| Data | 16 September 2026 |
| Aeromobili | GA-ASI Mojave STOL, demonstrator for the production Gray Eagle STOL |
| Partner | GA-ASI and Hanwha Aerospace |
| Posizione | ROK Army 513th Aviation Battalion airfield and Seungjin Training Field, Pocheon-si |
| Occasione | 2026 Defense Drone Technology Exhibition |
| Load carried | Four inert AGM-114 Hellfire missiles on dual weapon rails |
| Landing surface | A rough manoeuvre trail used by ROK Army tanks and artillery vehicles |
| Next milestones | Critical Design Review of a production-representative aircraft in November 2026; first flight in 2027 |
What the sortie actually involved
The Mojave took off conventionally from the 513th Aviation Battalion’s runway and flew to the Seungjin Training Field, where it joined ongoing air operations. It then put down on the tank trail, sat there, took off again from the same rough surface, resumed its mission and finally recovered to the battalion runway. Pilots flew the whole thing from a ground control station.
The point is not the landing. It is the taking off again. A drone that can only be recovered to a proper runway is tied to a small number of large, well-known, easily targeted airfields. One that can drop into a dirt trail near the fighting, be refuelled and rearmed by the soldiers already there, and go back up changes where the aircraft has to live.
GA-ASI was explicit about the implication in its release, noting that in a real fight soldiers could have refuelled and rearmed the aircraft during its time on the ground at the range. The company also claims no other aircraft with the Mojave’s endurance, range or payload can do this.
Why this keeps happening in odd places
The Mojave has been quietly collecting unlikely surfaces for three years. Rough-field trials in 2023. The deck of HMS Prince of Wales in November 2023, with no catapult and no arrestor wire. Live firing with two 7.62 mm miniguns at Yuma in April 2024. A take-off from the Republic of Korea Navy’s amphibious assault ship Dokdo later that year.
Each of those is the same underlying claim tested somewhere harder: that you can bolt big wings, heavy flaps and a powerful engine onto a Gray Eagle-class airframe and stop needing infrastructure. Korea is a logical customer for that argument, being mountainous, narrow, and within artillery range of an adversary who knows exactly where every runway is.
The industrial half of the story
Hanwha is not just hosting. The two companies have an agreement to produce the aircraft in South Korea, which turns a demonstration into an industrial programme and gives Seoul a domestic line for a class of aircraft it currently imports.
The next dates to watch are a Critical Design Review of a production-representative Mojave in November 2026 and a first flight in 2027. Until then the aircraft on the tank trail remains a demonstrator, which is the correct word for something that has proved a concept rather than entered a war.
Sources: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems press release (16 September 2026), Hanwha Aerospace, FlightGlobal, European Security & Defence, Army Recognition.
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