AI & AutonomyAir Combat Command’s EOU Tests Anduril’s YFQ-44A Last week, the Air Force’s Experimental Operations Unit (EOU) at Nellis AFB, Nev., tested an Anduril Industries YFQ-44A Fury prototype Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), which flew from a company site in southern California to…
MilitaryArmy’s Work With H-60Mx Black Hawk To Inform Bringing Autonomy To MV-75 FLRAA NASHVILLE, Tenn.–Army and Sikorsky officials said April 16 the service’s new Black Hawk outfitted to fly autonomously is serving as a testbed for bringing autonomy capability to the future MV-75 Cheyenne II…
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…