AI & AutonomyArmy’s SkyFoundry Plan To Build Own Cheap Drones Has ‘Evolved,’ Official Notes Commercial Involvement The Army’s SkyFoundry initiative to manufacture thousands of its own cheap drones on a monthly basis has recently “evolved,” with an official telling sister publication Defense Daily the program is “100 percent a…
AI & AutonomyWith an Eye To CCA Increment 2, Talon IQ Conducts Test Flight A “Talon IQ” Model 437 aircraft by Northrop Grumman‘s Scaled Composites has flown a mission autonomy test flight using the company’s Prism software and Hivemind software by Shield AI, the companies said on…
MilitaryAeroVironment Expands Manufacturing Capacity, UAS Products, With ESAero Acquisition AeroVironment on March 16 said it has acquired Empirical Systems Aerospace, Inc. (ESAero) in a $200 million deal that adds manufacturing, design and prototyping capacity, complimentary expertise in electric and hybrid propulsion, more…
UnmannedGrid Aero Raises $20 Million As It Preps To Begin Flying Long-Range Cargo UAS Grid Aero on Jan. 26 said it has raised $20 million in a funding round to move the Lifter Lite long-range, autonomous unmanned aircraft system (UAS) into flight testing and use in…
MilitaryDIU Seeks Platforms For Magnetic Data Collection To Support Precision Navigation The Defense Innovation Unit last Friday issued a solicitation seeking prototype solutions for airborne magnetic data collection platforms that would support the development of magnetic map data as an alternative to GPS…
AI & AutonomyUSAF Designates Talon CCA Contender As YFQ-48A YFQ-48A is the designation for Northrop Grumman‘s Project Talon series of drone contenders for the U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, the service said on Dec. 22. The YFQ-48A Mission…
Editor's NoteNorthrop Grumman Eyes First Flight Of Project Talon Next Year Northrop Grumman used its Beacon autonomous testbed, announced in June, to accelerate development of the Project Talon autonomous drone offering for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. Modified for…
MilitaryFirst MQ-25 Flight Test Pushed To Early 2026 The Navy and Boeing have pushed back the initial flight test of the first MQ-25A Stingray aircraft carrier-based tanker aircraft into early 2026. The government-industry team insisted they are making progress towards…
MilitaryF-22 Controls Unmanned General Atomics MQ-20 Drone In Industry Demo General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) on Nov. 17 announced the successful test of an F-22 Raptor fighter controlling an MQ-20 Avenger unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) for the first time in…
AI & AutonomyFlight Debut for Shield AI X-BAT Could Come Next Fall Shield AI plans to conduct initial vertical takeoff and landing demonstrations of its X-BAT drone fighter jet “as early as fall 2026, followed by all-up flight testing and operational validation in 2028,”…