Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky subsidiary is introducing a new “Nomad” family of autonomous uncrewed aerial systems that needs no runways and could be applied to missions complementing the Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment model, including resupply, armed combat, and potentially, combat search and rescue, company officials ...
autonomous aircraft
Northrop Grumman is offering a revamped Model 437 aircraft as a “playground” testbed for developers of autonomy flight software, hoping to answer industry demand for more and faster testing of their technology.
Fresh off its biggest test yet of an autonomous cargo plane, the Air Force is going bolder: deploying and operating another such aircraft for an entire year.
As the Air Force eyes hundreds if not thousands of unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft to supplement its manned fighter fleet, startup Anduril offered a rare glimpse at the kind of autonomy software that could undergird CCAs—one human providing relatively simple directions for multiple “robotic wingmen” ...
Northrop Grumman said it put a pilot on its new Model 437—ostensibly an autonomous craft—to speed testing, as it won’t need segregated airspace usually required for uninhabited aircraft. A new video of the first flight emphasizes the speed at which the aircraft was fabricated and ...
The Air Force will likely award a contract or contracts for the first increment of Collaborative Combat Aircraft in late September or early October, sources familiar with the program said. It’s not yet been decided if the Air Force will carry one or both of ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall caught a ride in the front seat of a modified, artificial intelligence-piloted F-16 on May 2, a high-profile show of confidence in the service’s autonomous technologies—and another key step in maturing that technology for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.
While none of the major aircraft contractors were selected to develop the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, all three say they are seeking further autonomous aircraft work for the Navy, foreign partners, or in the classified arena, and maybe future versions of the CCA itself.
The CCA is envisioned as an uncrewed, relatively low-observable aircraft that can escort or coordinate with crewed aircraft, performing missions such as electronic warfare, defense suppression, as a communications node or as a flying extra magazine of weapons.
The Air Force’s primary platform for air attack against the most heavily defended targets will be the sixth-generation B-21 Raider, featuring a degree of stealth “orders of magnitude” stealthier than the B-2A Spirit it will replace.
The Air Force is exploring the potential of autonomous cargo craft, awarding a contract to tech company Reliable Robotics to study the feasibility of automating large, multi-engine airlifters. Reliable Robotics announced the contract Feb. 8, after previously working with the Air Force under three phases of ...
With the unveiling of the B-21 Raider, speculation and interest in the new bomber have reached a fever pitch, with a first flight still to come in mid-2023. But the B-21 won’t just be about the large, flying wing aircraft that rolled out in Palmdale, ...
