MQ-9B Sky Guardian: Belgian Armed Forces commission General Atomics drones at Florennes

A few days ago, the Belgian Armed Forces officially commissioned their new MQ-9B Sky Guardian drones from General Atomics. The ceremony at Florennes Air Base was attended by the highest military and political representatives, including the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence and the Air Force commander.

The Belgian Armed Forces are to be modern, networked and future-oriented and able to meet the complex security challenges of the 21st century – the commissioning is regarded as an important step.

The ceremony opened with a symbolic ribbon-cutting, which also officially put the new infrastructure for MQ-9B operations at Florennes into service. Representatives of the armed forces stressed that this milestone was significant for modernising national defence capabilities and integrating them into European operations. A few weeks earlier, the first MQ-9B Sky Guardian had already been taken over.

Florennes becomes the hub for the MQ-9B Sky Guardian

Thanks to the infrastructure built specifically for MQ-9B operations, Florennes is becoming the operational hub of the Belgian drone fleet. Control stations, maintenance areas, training facilities and command and control centres – all essential components for operating the system are concentrated in the modern, networked facility. Belgium is thus creating a capable and future-proof environment for operating its new unmanned aircraft.