General Atomics, Army Use New C2 Software for Gray Eagle Drone Test; J.R. Reid Quoted

General Atomics' aeronautical systems business used a new command and control software to help the U.S. Army test an extended-range unmanned aircraft system.

The Gray Eagle Extended Range UAS flew on Jan. 28 for acceptance testing under the control of General Atomics' Scalable C2 software that was operated via an Army laptop, the company said Wednesday.

GE-ER achieved all test objectives while under SC2's control for almost four hours. The Army expects SC2 to allow operators to focus on a mission's more complex tasks.

SC2's software applications work to enable automation of basic actions related to pre-flight, launch and recovery, payload control, maintenance and status monitoring.

J.R. Reid, vice president of strategic development at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, said SC2 could help the Army replace the Universal Ground Control Station as part of a framework compliant with Modular Open Systems Approach standards.

“SC2 represents a massive reduction in emplacement, mission launch time and overall footprint size,” Reid said.