Ikhana

Unmanned science and research aircraft system

NASA acquired a General Atomics Aeronautical 

Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Predator B unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in November 2006 

to support Earth science missions and advanced 

aeronautical technology development. Named 

Ikhana by NASA, the aircraft also served as a test 

bed to develop capabilities and technologies to 

improve the utility of UAS. 

The word “Ikhana,” is a Native American Choctaw 

word meaning intelligent, conscious or aware. This 

name was chosen because it is descriptive of the 

research goals NASA established for the aircraft 

and its related systems. 

Representative Experiments and Projects

The Ikhana UAS, designed for long-endurance, 

medium-altitude flight, was modified and instrumented for use in multiple civil research roles. 

A variety of Earth science in situ and remote sensing instruments were installed to collect data during 

flights, some lasting more than 20 hours. Data 

gathered by sensors on Ikhana within the Earth’s 

atmosphere complemented measurements of the 

same phenomena tak-en from space and from 

Earth’s surface. 

The Ikhana UAS participated in the Western States 

Fire Missions from 2007 to 2009. Through these 

flights Ikhana demonstrated improved wildfire 

imaging and mapping capabilities. NASA Ames 

Research Center at Moffett Field, California, 

developed the sophisticated sensor and real-time 

data communications equipment, the Autonomous 

Modular Sensor (AMS).

During the Fire Missions, the aircraft carried the 

AMS in a wing-mounted pod. The AMS was 

capable of peering through thick smoke and haze 

to record hot spots and the pro-gression of wildfires during a lengthy period. The data gathered 

was overlaid on Google Earth maps, downlinked 

in near-real time to the Interagency Fire Center in 

Boise, Idaho, and made available to fire incident 

commanders to assist in allocating firefighting 

resources.

In 2014, in partnership with multiple organizations, 

Ikhana deployed to Hawaii to demon-strate the 

capabilities of this type of UAS for scientific and 

environmental data collection missions over the 

Papahãnaumokuãkea Marine National Monument 

(“the Monument”). The aircraft collected scientific 

and environmental data during two flights totaling 

more than 19 hours over northwest areas of the 

island state. NASA worked with scientists from the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

to perform surveys of monk seals, sea turtles, sea 

birds and vegetation. Sen-sors on the aircraft also 

searched for marine debris over the Monument.

During the 2014 deployment to Hawaii, the Ikhana 

also flew four missions supporting the U.S. Navy’s 

Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military maritime 

training exercise. During these missions the Ikhana 

demonstrated how a UAS with its capabilities 

could provide visual and radar imagery for a more 

efficient, effective and safe execution of the training 

and real-world exercises. The imaging sensor and 

the radar package on board Ikhana provided ocean 

range clearance, situational awareness of ship 

movement, humanitarian assistance and disaster 

relief training aid during more than 32 hours of 

flight time. 

In 2017, in partnership with Panasonic Aerospace, Ikhana tested their Tropospheric Air-borne 

Meteorological Data Reporting, or TAMDAR, 

NASA's Ikhana Predator B received an avionics upgrade, wingtip winglets and a new paint 

scheme in 2013. GA-ASI Photo
FS-2019-04-097 AFRC

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Armstrong Flight Research Center

P.O. Box 273

Edwards, California 93523

NASA Facts

equipment. The version flown on Ikhana is the TAMDAR Edge 

system, a much smaller, lighter weight version of the original 

technology that had already flown for more than 12 years on 

commercial airliners. TAMDAR provides real-time weather 

data for use by other aircraft, as well as ground stations.

The Ikhana also supported the Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate in the advance-ment of unmanned aircraft systems 

research and technology development. 

A NASA-patented fiber optic sensor system moved from years 

of laboratory development and testing to large-scale, dynamic 

field testing in 2008 when the technology was flown on the 

Ikhana UAS to measure change in the wing shape in flight. The 

effort represented one of the first comprehensive flight validations of fiber optic sensor technology.

In support of the Agency’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System (UAS-NAS) Project, the 

Ikhana first flew an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, system in 2012. ADS-B is an aircraft tracking 

technology that all planes operating in U.S. airspace must adopt 

by January 2020 to comply with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. 

More extensive support of the UAS-NAS Project followed 

from 2014 to Ikhana’s retirement in 2018. During this time, the 

UAS-NAS Project partnered with the FAA, GA-ASI, Honeywell International Inc., and Aviation Communications and 

Surveillance Systems (ACSS) to sup-port multiple flight test 

series using the Ikhana at Edwards Air Force Base, California. 

Ikhana participated in flight tests that engage the core air traffic 

infrastructure and supporting software components through a 

live and virtual environment to demonstrate how a re-motely 

piloted aircraft interacts with air traffic controllers and other air 

traffic. The aircraft was equipped with partners’ developmental 

detect-and-avoid systems and software. 

NASA, working with government and industry partners, used 

flight test data collected with the Ikhana UAS to provide the 

Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) Spe-cial 

Committee 228 with data to support its development of minimum operational perfor-mance standard (MOPS) necessary for 

UAS to regularly access the National Airspace System (NAS).

In June 2018, demonstrating the application of the MOPS that 

Ikhana helped develop dur-ing earlier flight tests, the Ikhana became the first aircraft to obtain a No Chase Certificate of Waiver 

Authorization (COA) from the FAA, and successfully flew a 

six-hour mission through multiple classes of civilian airspace 

(A, D and E) without the support of a chase plane or visual observers. The teamwork among the various partner organizations 

made the demonstration a decisive success, and accomplished a 

major step toward the integra-tion of UAS in the NAS.

Due to this historic achievement, Aviation Week & Space Technology selected Ikhana’s No Chase COA flight as a winner of its 

62nd Annual Laureate Awards, in the category of Commercial 

Aviation, Unmanned Systems.

Aircraft Description

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. of San Diego, 

California, developed the original Predator A medium-altitude, 

long-endurance UAS during the mid-1990s for the United 

States Air Force. Development of the larger, more powerful 

Predator B was initiated in 2000 by the firm with partial funding 

from NASA. The agency was interested in the Earth science 

capabilities of a civil version of the aircraft with a larger payload 

and higher altitude capability, along with longer endurance. The 

aircraft is based at NASA Armstrong.

NASA's MQ-9 Ikhana Predator B has a wingspan of 66 feet 

and is 36 feet long. More than 400 pounds of sensors can be 

carried internally and over 2,000 pounds in external under-wing 

pods. Ikhana is powered by a Honeywell TPE 331-10T turboprop engine and is capable of reaching altitudes above 40,000 

feet. Ikhana was the first production Predator B equipped with 

a digital electronic engine controller developed by Honeywell 

and GA-ASI that makes the aircraft 5 to 10 percent more fuel 

efficient than earlier versions. 

In 2013, Ikhana received a major avionics upgrade, bringing 

the aircraft's systems to current standards and making the UAS 

maintainable and sustainable. The Ikhana project also acquired 

a new 140-inch long, 30-inch diameter generic science pod with 

a payload capacity of more than 500 pounds. The pod’s internal 

arrangement is reconfigurable to accommodate a variety of science sensors and instruments. 

Fiber Optic sensors are covered with dark sealant tape on the 

left wing of Ikhana during a 2008 study to measure change in 

wing shape. NASA / Tony Landis