AIM 

4/20/23 

FIG 11

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DoD UAS Categories 

d. 

Large Public UAS Engineering Characteristics and Operating Areas: 

1. 

Large public UAS may be sharing airspace with civil aircraft in the NAS. A wide variety of aircraft 

performance, voice radio communications, command and control link architecture, and operating procedures 

exists throughout the DoD and other large public UAS enterprises. For example, Group 4 DoD aircraft, such as 

the MQ

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1 Predator and MQ

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9 Reaper, are typically propeller

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driven with propulsion units that are internal 

combustion piston

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 or turbine

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powered. The largest public UAS include single

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engine jet aircraft such as the 

RQ

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4 Global Hawk and MQ

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4C Triton. 

2. 

VLOS and BVLOS link systems provide command and control for these large UAS operations. Voice 

communication capability in the largest public UAS is far more extensive than in the smaller aircraft. Many 

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Large UAS (MGOW 55 Pounds or More)