US Navy orders 19 Outlaw G2 target drones for Carrier Strike Group Four training in the Atlantic.

The U.S. Navy opened a procurement requirement for 19 MQM-170C target drones from sole-source supplier Griffon Aerospace to support Atlantic Fleet training requirements through Carrier Strike Group Four. The acquisition responds to an operational demand for reusable unmanned aerial target platforms capable of simulating incoming airborne threats during force-protection and gunnery exercises. The contract execution is managed by the NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, with performance designated in Virginia and Madison, Alabama.

The MQM-170C Outlaw G2 is a composite target drone featuring a 10.8-foot wingspan, a 150-pound maximum takeoff weight, and an endurance exceeding eight hours. It provides a fully reusable training platform equipped with pneumatic launch, skid-landing capabilities, and scoring systems to evaluate anti-air defense tracking performance.

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The reusable MQM-170C target drone will provide the CSG-4 with a cost-effective, long-endurance UAV to realistically simulate airborne threats, support complex naval training exercises, and measure accurate data for performance reviews. (Picture source: Griffon Aerospace)

On September 8, 2026, the U.S. Navy opened a requirement for 19 MQM-170C target drones from Griffon Aerospace, plus contractor personnel, to respond to a demand from Carrier Strike Group Four (CSG-4), which focuses on Atlantic Fleet training. The NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk solicitation is due on September 10, under NAICS 336411 and PSC 1510, with performance in Virginia and Griffon Aerospace of Madison, Alabama, as the sole-source supplier. Even though the MQM-170C functions as an aerial target drone for military training, it can be launched via a pneumatic catapult and recovered via a skid landing, or it can be equipped with optional tricycle landing gear for traditional runway takeoffs and landings. Recovered drones can be refueled, reconfigured, and relaunched for additional gunnery, missile, air defense, and force-protection exercises. The inventory would permit Atlantic Fleet units to practice detecting, tracking, engaging, and evaluating unmanned airborne threats under controlled conditions, with sortie capacity ultimately limited by the progressive reduction of the 19-unit inventory.

The MQM-170C, also known as the Outlaw G2, measures 8.75 ft (2.7 m) long, spans 10.8 ft (3.29 m), and has a 150 lb (68 kg) MTOW, compared with a 16-ft wing and 225-lb MTOW for the broader G2 UAV configuration. Its two-cylinder, two-stroke piston propulsion includes 150 cc or 170 cc configurations, with another configuration using the 11.8-kW, 16-hp DA-150. Performance is 60 to 80 KTAS cruise, 126 KTAS maximum speed, more than 16,000 ft ceiling, more than eight hours endurance, and roughly 60 nmi range without data relay. At its maximum speed, it covers 2.1 nmi per minute, giving 9.5 minutes to cover 20 nmi, explaining why it is frequently utilized not just as a target, but also as a reusable surveillance and payload research platform. Moreover, pneumatic launch removes the runway requirement, while optional tricycle landing gear permits conventional recovery when preserving an aircraft or expensive payload is required.

Compared with the MQM-170A, the C-model cuts the wingspan from 13.7 ft to 10.8 ft, a 21% reduction, while increasing the gross weight from 120 lb to 150 lb (25%), and doubling the maximum endurance from 3 to 4 hours to more than eight hours. The G2 redesign also increased payload area by 50% and raised maximum speed by 20% while retaining the engine architecture, radio, autopilot, and servos. The redesigned airframe uses a high wing, T-tail, larger fuselage, greater fuel capacity, new wing structure, flap actuator, steerable nose gear and onboard alternator. Built from composite materials (with optional carbon fiber configurations), the airframe can withstand the physical stress of harsh field conditions and repeated skid landings without sustaining critical damage, allowing the drone to potentially remain in a CSG-4 exercise for several engagement serials rather than making a single short target pass.

Contrary to what the name ‘target drone’ implies, the MQM-170C does not need to be destroyed for successful training. During air defense training, the drone simulates incoming threats (like enemy aircraft or missiles) by flying specific paths, gathering tracking data, and using special electronic or optical scoring systems to measure how close a trainee's weapon came to "hitting" it. Target equipment includes an infrared enhancer, MILES equipment, Precision Gunnery System retroreflectors, night lighting, smoke generator, and Doppler-radar scoring, with options including radar and acoustic scoring and EO/IR gimbals. Because it is fully reusable, a single MQM-170C can subsequently fly dozens or even hundreds of separate training missions over its lifespan. Control options include manual line-of-sight, Beyond Visual Range, and GPS-waypoint flight, with the BVR console able to control multiple drones simultaneously. Automatic termination can respond to GPS or radio-link loss through glide landing, stalled landing, or parachute recovery.

The Outlaw first flew in 2003; the U.S. Army selected the MQM-170A that year as its Remotely Piloted Vehicle Target; and service began in July 2004. It replaced 1/5-scale Su-25 Frogfoot and Mi-24 Hind-D representations used for Stinger MANPADS training. By 2012, cumulative production exceeded 3,000 drones, output reached 40 units per month, and the fleet had accumulated more than 50,000 flights over eight years, with a reported loss rate below 1%. G2 Army qualification finished in November 2012, Army flight testing followed at Redstone Arsenal in May 2013, and the aerial target supported High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator testing in November 2013 before NATO Missile Firing Installation certification in March 2014. The U.S. Army also awarded Griffon Aerospace $50 million for MQM-170 and MQM-171 targets in February 2020, followed by a separate $17.5 million ID/IQ award on September 8, 2026 for Outlaw communications subcomponents and training through February 28, 2027.

The Carrier Strike Group Four (CSG-4) is not an operational U.S. carrier strike group with a permanently assigned aircraft carrier, but the U.S. Navy command responsible for integrated training of Atlantic Fleet CSGs, ARGs (Amphibious Ready Groups), MEUs (Marine Expeditionary Units), and independent surface deployers. Based at Naval Station Norfolk, it conducts Force Protection Exercises and COMPTUEX, with successful integrated training leading to a recommendation for deployment certification to U.S. Fleet Forces Command. The 19 Outlaws consequently form a shared target inventory for successive formations rather than a target detachment for one carrier. During Operation Desert Shield, for instance, the CSG-4's predecessor certified two carriers and their air wings on short notice, while a November 2022 event included the USS Gerald R. Ford, USS Normandy, USS Ramage and USS McFaul alongside HMCS Fredericton, FGS Hessen and Álvaro de Bazán. The useful procurement metric is therefore targets available per certification cycle and sorties generated per airframe, figures that are not specified.

TSVRON-4 (Training Support Vessel Squadron 4) provides much of the physical range capacity supporting those exercises with roughly 70 civilian personnel and specialized training support vessels. Its workload covers HSC (Helicopter Sea Combat) live fire, HSC Weapons School events, II MEF (II Marine Expeditionary Force) training, ARGMEUEX (Amphibious Ready Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit Exercise), Group Sails, and COMPTUEX (Composite Training Unit Exercise), with nearly 50% of its work occurring outside CSG-4 exercises. The squadron developed from Prevail (TSV-1) into a four-vessel Mobile Sea Range before receiving the TSVRON-4 designation in 2015. The Vindicator (TSV-5) replaced the Hugo in 2024 with a larger deck for additional High-Speed Maneuvering Surface Targets, dynamic positioning, increased endurance, greater on-station time, and accommodations for larger detachments. This could create a concrete capacity constraint for the MQM-170Cs because drone availability must coincide with vessels, range space, launch teams, telemetry, control personnel, and recovery resources.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.