Next year, the Block 5 Extended Range version of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-9A Reaper drone is to receive a self-protection pod developed by GA-ASI in concert with U.S. Special Operations Command, BAE Systems and Leonardo DRS.

The Airborne Battlespace Awareness and Defense (ABAD) pod is for the MQ-9A Block 5 Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance Tactical (MALET) Extended Range drone in use by Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

ABAD is to detect Radio Frequency (RF) and Infrared (IR) missile threats and enable defensive measures to allow the Reaper to survive and function in contested environments, GA-ASI said on May 9.

“The first phase of contract work evaluated suitable RF Electronic Warfare (EW) and IR countermeasures systems,” GA-ASI said. “This led to the down selection of a next-generation software-defined radio-based EW system from BAE Systems and the AN/AAQ-45 Distributed Aperture Infrared Countermeasure System (DAIRCM) from Leonardo DRS.”

Joshua Niedzwiecki, vice president and general manager of electronic combat solutions at BAE Systems, said in the GA-ASI statement that “BAE Systems’ advancements in small form factor EW technologies will provide affordable multifunction capabilities for the MQ-9A, enabling it to operate in previously inaccessible airspace.”

In adherence to the 2022 National Defense Strategy’s shift to deterrence of China and Russia, AFSOC is moving to have an aircrew control multiple drones under the command’s Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) effort.

A2E “is vital to thickening the Joint Force kill web throughout the spectrum of conflict and continues to be AFSOC’s number one acquisition priority,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, the head of AFSOC, said in January.

A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.

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An XQ-58A Valkyrie autonomous unmanned combat aircraft equipped with an electronic attack payload successfully demonstrated suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD) capabilities with two F-35 fighters in a recent live flight test event at Eglin AFB, Fla., Kratos Defense & Security Solutions said on Tuesday.

The test of Kratos’s low-cost Valkyrie completes the first phase of the Marine Corps’ Penetrating Affordable Autonomous Collaborative Killer-Portfolio (PAACK-P) program, part of an effort to inform requirements for the unmanned combat aircraft to support the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Aerial System Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft (MUX TACAIR) for use in the SEAD role.

Kratos received a $22.9 million phase two contract modification in December 2023 to conduct additional engineering and flight tests of the Valkyrie in support of the PAACK-P program.

“MUX TACAIR promises to increase the lethality and survivability of our current crewed platforms,” Lt. Col. Bradley Buick, Marine Corps Aviation Cunningham Group Capabilities, Research, and Integration officer, said in a statement. “These platforms are the future of air warfare.”

The Marine Corps last October conducted the first flight test of the Valkyrie as part of PAACK-P, which is aimed at having the unmanned aircraft serve as a cooperative combatant.

“We’re very excited about the mission capability demonstrated during the flight and the incredible effectiveness per cost that this enables, not to mention the elimination of risk to a human pilot, and elimination of risk to expensive manned platforms,” Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’s Unmanned Systems Division, said in a statement. He also said the test included electronic warfare systems supplied by Northrop Grumman.

Kratos said all flight-test objectives were successfully met. Valkyrie can operate as a loyal wingman with manned fighters, operate in swarms, and individually.

A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.

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The 9,000 square-metre facility at the Wellcamp Aerospace and Defence Precinct is expected to be operational in the next three years. The company’s latest investment in Australia will bring new aerospace skillsets and technologies, such as advanced composites manufacturing and robotics to Queensland.

“Boeing Australia is investing to bring this innovative, uncrewed capability to market in the timeframe that supports our customers’ future needs,” said Amy List, managing director, Boeing Defence Australia. “The MQ-28 is designed to transform air combat and provide affordable mass for Australia and our allies.”

“We’re partnering with the Queensland Government and Wagner Corporation to build Boeing’s first final assembly facility outside of North America – which is indicative of our global focus and a continued commitment to a sustainable and robust Australian aerospace industry.”

Wagner Corporation will develop and manage construction of the facility at their Toowoomba precinct using sustainable construction methods, and work with Boeing to incorporate renewable technologies and human-centric design.

The MQ-28 production facility will include aerospace manufacturing capabilities, including carbon fibre composites manufacture, along with advanced robotic assembly for major components, and final assembly and test capabilities.

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The Army will be “the biggest participant” for the first round of the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative to field thousands of attritable autonomous systems by August 2025 “in terms of quantity,” according to the service’s acquisition chief.

“In the Army’s case, we had something that we were already working on that was similar [to Replicator’s requirements]. So we nominated that and luckily that made the cut. And so that was a win-win for the Army. Those are the ideal situations I think, when it’s something that the service needs to do, can’t quite get through its own system, [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] (OSD) is doing its cross-look oversight and accelerating where they believe it’s necessary for the enterprise. I think that’s the best use of an OSD-led system approach like Replicator,” Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said on Wednesday.

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks first announced the Replicator initiative last August, detailing the effort to produce and field thousands of “all-domain attritable autonomous systems, or ADA2 capabilities, over the next 18 to 24 months “to help us overcome [China’s] biggest advantage, which is mass.”

Bush did not offer further details on what capability will be scaled up as part of the initiative, which is in line with the department’s approach to not disclose specific Replicator details to the public.

“That’s a choice the department’s made to keep it rather buttoned up. Those in industry that we’re working with of course know [details], but there’s going to be a bit of a gap [for] those that aren’t involved directly just because of the classification structure they put around it,” Bush said during a panel discussion at the Reagan Institute’s National Security Innovation Base Summit in Washington, D.C.

In December, Bush said the Army had nominated three candidate systems for Replicator, confirming they were unmanned systems that are “bigger than a quadcopter but smaller than a MQ-1 [Predator drone].”

Gen. James Slife, the Air Force’s vice chief of staff, joined Bush on the panel and said his service has “several compelling programs” that are being considered for Replicator.

“They’re not quite as technologically mature as some of the Army programs that are going to be in the [first round] of this. But we’re excited, frankly, about the prospects of Replicator,” Slife said. 

Hicks confirmed last week that the Pentagon plans to spend $1 billion over the next two years on Replicator, to include $500 million in FY ‘24 that will either be supported by a reprogramming request or included in the final defense appropriations bill and another $500 million included in its FY ‘25 budget submission.

“We need to see that [FY ‘24 funding] come to fruition. [The appropriators] have been very positive about it. But, of course, we don’t have an [FY ‘24 appropriations] bill and the reprogramming request continues to move through as an alternative path,” Hicks said during a separate discussion at the Reagan Institute event on Wednesday. 

“If the Ukrainians and Russians can put out thousands of UASs every month — every month — and we are having heart attacks over whether the Defense Department of the United States of America can put out multiple thousands over 18-24 months, if we can’t do that we have a much bigger problem than whether Replicator was a good success. And we say we want us to take risk, this is a good example,” Hicks added.

A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.

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Solutions need to be able to contend with jamming, interference, spoofing, and other electromagnetic interference, the Defense Department unit says in the March 11 posting on its website. DIU is encouraging multiple communications pathways such as point-to-point and/or mesh networking.

“The DoD cannot expect to have unhindered freedom of maneuver in the electromagnetic spectrum,” DIU says. “We must expect an environment with challenges due to jamming, interference, or other factors, and be able to successfully operate sUAS and other UxS within it.”

In the week of March 11, The New York Times reported that Russian forces are increasingly able to electronically jam Ukrainian drones, limiting what has been an important tool for Ukraine, sUAS equipped with munitions.

The DIU solicitation is aimed at Group 1 and 2 UAS, which have maximum gross take-off weights up to 20 and 55 pounds respectively. Responses are due by March 25 and solutions must be ready to test within six to nine months.

A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.

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NASA’s history-making Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has ended its mission on the Red Planet after surpassing expectations and making dozens more flights than planned. While the helicopter remains upright and in communication with ground controllers, imagery of its Jan. 18 flight sent to Earth this week indicates one or more of its rotor blades sustained damage during landing and it is no longer capable of flight.

Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.

“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to an end,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best – make the impossible, possible. Through missions like Ingenuity, NASA is paving the way for future flight in our solar system and smarter, safer human exploration to Mars and beyond.”

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is seen Aug. 2, 2023, in an enhanced-color image captured by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard the agency’s Perseverance Mars rover. (Photo: JPL/Caltech-ASU/MSSS).

Ingenuity landed on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover and first lifted off the Martian surface on April 19, proving that powered, controlled flight on Mars was possible. After notching another four flights, it embarked on a new mission as an operations demonstration, serving as an aerial scout for Perseverance scientists and rover drivers. In 2023, the helicopter executed two successful flight tests that further expanded the team’s knowledge of its aerodynamic limits.

“At NASA JPL, innovation is at the heart of what we do,” said Leshin. “Ingenuity is an exemplar of the way we push the boundaries of what’s possible every day. I’m incredibly proud of our team behind this historic technological achievement and eager to see what they’ll invent next.”

Ingenuity’s team planned for the helicopter to make a short vertical flight on Jan. 18 to determine its location after executing an emergency landing on its previous flight. Data shows that, as planned, the helicopter achieved a maximum altitude of 40 feet (12 meters) and hovered for 4.5 seconds before starting its descent at a velocity of 3.3 feet per second (1 meter per second).

However, about 3 feet (1 meter) above the surface, Ingenuity lost contact with the rover, which serves as a communications relay for the rotorcraft. The following day, communications were reestablished and more information about the flight was relayed to ground controllers at NASA JPL. Imagery revealing damage to the rotor blade arrived several days later. The cause of the communications dropout and the helicopter’s orientation at the time of touchdown are still being investigated.

Over an extended mission that lasted for almost 1,000 Martian days, more than 33 times longer than originally planned, Ingenuity was upgraded with the ability to autonomously choose landing sites in treacherous terrain, deal with a dead sensor, clean itself after dust storms, operate from 48 different airfields, performed three emergency landings, and survived a frigid Martian winter.

Designed to operate in spring, Ingenuity was unable to power its heaters throughout the night during the coldest parts of winter, resulting in the flight computer periodically freezing and resetting. These power “brownouts” required the team to redesign Ingenuity’s winter operations in order to keep flying.

With flight operations now concluded, the Ingenuity team will perform final tests on helicopter systems and download the remaining imagery and data in Ingenuity’s onboard memory. The Perseverance rover is currently too far away to attempt to image the helicopter at its final airfield.

“It’s humbling Ingenuity not only carries onboard a swatch from the original Wright Flyer, but also this helicopter followed in its footsteps and proved flight is possible on another world,” said Ingenuity’s project manager, Teddy Tzanetos of NASA JPL. “The Mars helicopter would have never flown once, much less 72 times, if it were not for the passion and dedication of the Ingenuity and Perseverance teams. History’s first Mars helicopter will leave behind an indelible mark on the future of space exploration and will inspire fleets of aircraft on Mars – and other worlds – for decades to come.”

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Walmart, Zipline and Wing have teamed up to provide drone delivery for up to 75% of the Dallas-Fort Worth population, establishing the largest automated unmanned aerial vehicle delivery footprint in the U.S.

“This expansion will bring the ultimate convenience of drone delivery to communities across the DFW area. Customers will have access to a broad assortment of items from Walmart available for delivery to their home in just minutes,” said Prathibha Rajashekhar, senior vice president of innovation and automation at Walmart U.S. “Drone delivery is not just a concept of the future, it’s happening now and will soon be a reality for millions of additional Texans.”   

 The drone delivery expansion includes stores across more than 30 towns and municipalities in the DFW metroplex, marking the first time a U.S. retailer has offered drone delivery to this many households in a single market. The deliveries will be powered by on-demand drone delivery providers, Wing and Zipline. Both are approved by the FAA to fly their drones without a dedicated observer being able to see the drone at all times, known as Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), which will enable drone delivery to more Texans than ever before.   

Drone delivery gives customers an even faster delivery option, getting items to them in 30 minutes or less and some deliveries can happen as fast as 10 minutes. This is an addition to other speedy delivery methods like Express Delivery in three hours or less, Late-Night Delivery until 10 p.m. and InHome – with an option for delivery directly to a customer’s refrigerator – ensuring customers have what they want, when and how they want it.   

Over the last two years of trialing drone delivery, Wing has completed over 20,000 safe deliveries. Walmart has seen customers use drone service for many reasons. This includes when they need an item in a pinch, like a forgotten ingredient or over-the-counter cold medicine, or simply because it’s convenient. Some of the most popular items ordered include snacks and beverages, satisfying an afternoon sweet tooth or caffeine craving. Drones can also deliver several items at a time, such as supplies for a movie night at home, a last-minute birthday gift or ingredients for baking cookies, including fragile items like eggs.    

Customers can order thousands of items ranging from baby wipes to birthday candles. To place an order, simply visit wing.com/Walmart or visit www.flyzipline.com/get-delivery. The delivery radius for stores offering the service will be up to 10 miles.    

Working closely with drone experts like Wing and Zipline that focus on speed, safety and sustainability, Walmart can do what we do best: serve customers no matter how or when they want to shop and help them live better.   

Wing delivers packages directly from businesses to homes in minutes, providing customers a fast and convenient way to get what they need, when they need it. With four years of commercial residential service in the U.S. and on three continents, and a network approach to scaled drone delivery similar to efficient rideshares, Wing is working to deliver people’s packages more efficiently and safely as part of an automated logistics system that routinely moves packages by the millions.   

“Our first few months delivering to Walmart customers have made it clear: Demand for drone delivery is real,” said Wing CEO Adam Woodworth. “The response has been incredible from customers ordering drone delivery from Walmart every day, and it’s a testament to our partnership that we’re now expanding our footprint to bring this innovative delivery option to millions of Texans. If this milestone is any indication, we believe 2024 is the year of drone delivery.”   

Zipline is the world’s largest autonomous delivery company that helps health systems, restaurants and retailers provide fast, precise and convenient deliveries. With Zipline’s drone delivery network, businesses can offer a magical delivery experience, reach more customers, increase revenue and improve operational efficiency. Since 2016, Zipline has flown more than 60 million commercial autonomous miles and delivered millions of products, including more than 13 million vaccine doses. The company currently completes a commercial delivery every 70 seconds and has operations on four continents.   

“Autonomous delivery is finally ready for national scale in the U.S. Zipline is excited to enable Walmart’s vision of providing customer delivery so fast it feels like teleportation,” said Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, co-founder and CEO of Zipline. “Walmart is leading the U.S. in using robotics and AI to help people save money and live better. We’re excited for folks across Dallas-Fort Worth to experience delivery that is 7x as fast, zero emissions and whisper quiet with our next-generation technology.”  

This groundbreaking move represents Walmart’s ongoing commitment to innovation and to revolutionizing the way customers shop and receive their orders. The future of delivery is here, and we’re reaching new heights with our DFW expansion. With nearly 4,700 stores located within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population, we’re uniquely positioned to scale when that time comes.   

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Northrop Grumman recently completed the first flight of Australia’s multi-intelligence MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance maritime surveillance aircraft.

The aircraft took off just before noon on Nov. 9, at Northrop’s Palmdale, Calif., Aircraft Integration Center. It flew for just under six and a half hours, the company said. 

During the sortie, ground crews performed airworthiness evaluations, such as engine, flight-control and fuel-system checks, and conducted basic aircraft handling tests.

The MQ-4C Triton. Northrop Grumman photo

“We are leveraging our deep expertise in uncrewed high-altitude long endurance aircraft to enable Australia to establish a superior long-range maritime surveillance capability to monitor and protect Australia’s maritime interests 24/7,” said Christine Zeitz, Northrop’s chief executive and general manager of Australia & New Zealand.

The flight marks a major production milestone toward delivery of Australia’s first Triton in 2024. Triton achieved a declaration of initial operating capability (IOC) and has been in service with the U.S. Navy since August.

Built for the U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Air Force, MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft performs persistent maritime intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting.

In September, the Australian government announced it would buy a fourth Triton that will enhance the resilience of its fleet and provide surveillance capability to monitor and protect Australia’s maritime interests. 

All four Australian Tritons currently under contract are progressing as planned through their production schedules, Northrop said.

Australia’s security challenges run the spectrum of humanitarian and disaster relief to maritime monitoring of sea lanes in the Indo-Pacific

“Triton expands Australia’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability by providing reliable real-time intelligence and situational awareness. Persistent surveillance enables better planning, greatly enhancing joint military responses and operations,” said Air Marshal Robert Chipman, chief of the Royal Australian Air Force.

Once Triton enters service with the RAAF, U.S. and Australian defense forces will be able to share data collected by their respective aircraft, effectively doubling the intelligence collection capabilities of both countries. 

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Rotor Technologies believes its exclusive focus on uncrewed-only missions will allow its autonomous rotorcraft to enter commercial operations while previous attempts by other autonomous helicopter developers failed.

Hector Xu, Rotor founder and CEO, told Avionics on Nov. 10 that all of the company’s test flights have been performed without a human safety pilot. Previous attempts at bringing autonomous rotorcraft to commercial service, such as the Kaman Aerospace/Lockheed Martin K-Max uncrewed aircraft system (UAS), retained a safety pilot.

Xu believes this limited the ability of other autonomous rotorcraft developers to improve the safety of their systems in autonomous flight. Marketing material for the K-Max UAS describes it as optionally-crewed, with a single-seat cockpit enabling piloted operation for maximum flexibility and lower risk to the platform.

Rotor announced on Nov. 7 that it completed an uncrewed flight test campaign of a full-scale civilian helicopter. The program, performed from August to October, was flown with two Rotor R220Y autonomous helicopters. The R220Y is an experimental platform based on the Robinson R22 two-seat rotorcraft, with the seats, pilot controls and instrument panel removed and all functions automated by Rotor’s technology.

Xu said Rotor removed the seats, pilot controls and instrument panel from the R220Y as part of its uncrewed-first approach. Rotor is marketing the R550X, the aircraft it wants to sell commercially, as performing missions such as firefighting, crop dusting, construction, humanitarian aid and remote cargo delivery. The R550X is an uncrewed utility helicopter based on the Robinson R44 Raven II four-seat rotorcraft that has a payload capacity of 1,212 lbs (550 kg) and more than three hours of endurance.

The company wants its R550X to enter commercial service in 2024. Rotor spokesman Nicholas Coates said on Nov. 10 that the R550X will have an initial experimental airworthiness certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Some commercial operations, he said, will rely on other FAA waivers such as the Section 44807 exemption process.

The two R220Ys logged more than 20 hours of flight time and over 80 hours of engine run-time during the flight campaign. The flights demonstrated Rotor’s flight control systems, autonomous hover and velocity modes and vision-based perception systems, according to a company statement. Although no human pilot was onboard during the test flights, the R220Y requires a pilot to remotely control the vehicle when the autonomy system is not engaged.

Rotor is not the first company to perform autonomous helicopter demonstrations. In addition to the K-Max UAS, the Boeing Maverick vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAS had an extensive uncrewed flight test campaign of a full-scale modified civilian helicopter with more than 1,000 hours of flight time between 1999-2007. The Sikorsky S-70 Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) Black Hawk rotorcraft has also flown autonomously.

However, an expert said while performing uncrewed rotorcraft demonstrations is easy, entering uncrewed helicopters into commercial operations is very difficult. Dan Patt, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology who worked on the Sikorsky OPV Black Hawk and the Boeing Maverick VTOL UAS, told Avionics on Nov. 10 that this challenge is often called the “robotics paradox”. This refers to the gap between the controlled environment of a demonstration and the unpredictable nature of the real world, which is filled with statistically improbable events that are difficult to prepare for and predict.

Technological advancements since 1999, when Patt worked on a team that autonomously flew an R22, have made it vastly easier to create impressive demonstrations. In a setting as simple as a garage, one can build an uncrewed aircraft and ground robotics using open-source software and commercial hardware. But Patt said scaling these innovations to operate reliably in every possible real-world scenario is exponentially more difficult.

This is similar to the difference between showcasing a concept car made from clay and producing a vehicle that is safe, reliable and meets all regulatory standards for public roads. Patt said in aviation, these challenges are compounded by stringent regulatory requirements for commercial operations that have not yet been proven, thus making the transition from controlled demonstrations to commercial operations a complex and rigorous process.

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