Jerry Petersen
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. and two partners conducted in November a flight test to demonstrate the ability of the MQ-20 Avenger to carry out a multi-objective collaborative combat mission and close the find, fix, track, target, engage and assess engagement chain using various autonomy technologies.
GA-ASI said Tuesday it had provided its weapon-target pairing and electronic warfare autonomy skills for the flight test, which took place at the company’s Desert Horizon Flight Operations Facility in California.
For its part, the Architecture and Capabilities for Autonomy in Naval Enterprise team within Naval Air Systems Command PMA-281 provided its cooperative weave skill to demonstrate a collaborative flight formation technique between a live Avenger unmanned combat air vehicle and a simulated one.
Scientific Systems Company Inc. provided its collaborative mission autonomy capabilities, which commanded a defensive counter air mission involving multiple fully-autonomous vehicles.
A government-furnished autonomy core architecture integrated and orchestrated the skills provided by the three organizations. GA-ASI had enhanced that core architecture.
