Tag: military aviation

Northrop’s Talon IQ Flies First Mission With Shield AI’s Hivemind Autonomy

The Defense Post reports, “Northrop Grumman’s Talon IQ modular testbed, equipped with Shield AI’s Hivemind as its digital brain, has completed its first partner mission autonomy flight in Mojave, California. Following its single‑day hardware‑in‑the‑loop test, Hivemind successfully directed Talon IQ to execute combat air patrol and target engagement in the flight before the aircraft swapped back to Northrop’s Prism autonomy software.”
Full Story (The Defense Post)

MQ-20 Avenger Demonstrates Advanced Autonomy in U.S. Air Force Exercise

Aviation News Daily reports, “General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and the U.S. Air Force have successfully completed a groundbreaking autonomy flight exercise, demonstrating critical new capabilities for Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). The test proves that uncrewed jets can now coordinate complex combat behaviors autonomously, marking a major leap in the integration of AI-driven wingmen for future air warfare.”
Full Story (Aviation News Daily)

General Atomics Names YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft ‘Dark Merlin’

Aviation Week reports, “General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) announced Feb. 23 that its collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) has a name: the Dark Merlin. The GA-ASI YFQ-42A is one of two CCAs being developed for the U.S. Air Force’s first increment of its program, along with the Anduril YFA-44A. After first flights in 2025, both of the prototypes now await a potential production award in 2026.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)



 Video

The YFQ-42A drone by General Atomics
(Techno Thunder; YouTube)

General Atomics’ LongShot Air Combat Drone Officially Named X-68A

Aviation Week reports, “An air-launched missile-carrying uncrewed aircraft developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for DARPA’s LongShot project has been designated the X-68A ahead of flight tests expected by year-end. The LongShot is designed to be carried by fighters and bombers, or as a palletized munition on airlifters, and launched to fly ahead and engage targets with its own internally carried air-to-air missiles. The goal is to increase launch platform survivability and extend combat reach.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Air Force Taps Boeing to Begin B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement

Defense News reports, “In December the Air Force awarded Boeing Defense Systems a more than $2 billion contract to start the first engine replacements on the B-52H Stratofortress, marking a major step forward for the overhaul of the venerable Cold War-era bomber. In a Dec. 23 contract announcement, the Pentagon stated that the task order for the Commercial Engine Replacement Program, or CERP, requires Boeing to modify a pair of B-52s with new engines and associated subsystems — and then test the aircraft.”
Full Story (Defense News)

U.S. Army Apache Pilots to Train with Augmented Reality for First Time

Flying Magazine reports, “For the first time, U.S. military helicopter pilots will train using augmented reality (AR) technology that can recreate real-world scenarios within a digital space. On Monday, augmented reality flight training systems developer Red 6 said it has integrated its Advanced Tactical Augmented Reality Systems (ATARS) on Boeing’s AH64E Apache Crewstation Advanced Technology Testbed (CATT). That marks the company’s first integration with a U.S. Army platform and the first-ever integration of such a system on a rotorcraft platform, Red 6 said.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)