A team of Northrop Grumman and Aviation Communications & Surveillance Systems will collaborate to build a sense and avoid technology model for the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle as part of a contract from the U.S. Navy.
Northrop said Monday it will conduct prototyping and risk reduction efforts to support a UAV SAA capability requirement under the Navy's cooperative development program with the Australian air force.
Doug Shaffer, vice president and Triton program manager at Northrop, said adding SAA technology to the autonomous vehicle would help military customers manage flight safety.
Steve Alwin, president of ACSS, noted that the company's technology facilitates an active collision avoidance mechanism for emerging unmanned aircraft platforms.
The two companies have worked with Naval Air Systems Command over the past five years to explore SAA technology and standards.
ACSS operates as a joint venture between L3Harris Technologies and Thales.