Aviation Week reports that the U.S. Navy “is buying two Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) with sensor and weapon payloads as the service is developing its plans for future uncrewed autonomous aircraft.” The Pentagon “announced the $15.5 million cost-plus fixed-fee contract on Dec. 30.”
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Tag: Valkyrie UAV
USAF Announces Desired Engine Thrust Range for Future CCAs
Aviation Week reported that the US Air Force “has released a desired thrust range for a future family of uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) that calls for more engine power than offered by several existing candidates, such as the Boeing MQ-28 and Kratos XQ-58.”
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USAF Completes First Uncrewed Test Flight Utilizing AI
Bloomberg Government reported that the US Air Force “has completed its first flight with an uncrewed combat aircraft using artificial intelligence, according to the Department of Defense.” The XQ-58A Valkyrie combat aircraft by Kratos Defense and Security Solutions “led a three-hour simulated combat mission at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio on July 25.” The AI-led flight “was a product of an Air Force Research Laboratory effort, the Skyborg Vanguard program, which uses an autonomous aircraft teaming architecture and integrates multiple technology components.” Skyborg is “building a system that is portable and modular – fitting into multiple aircraft platforms.”
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Valkyrie UAV Deploys Smaller UAV from Inside its Internal Weapons Bay
Defense News reports that the US Air Force announced Monday that during the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie UAV’s “sixth flight test at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, it opened its payload bay doors during flight for the first time and released an ALTIUS-600, a small, tube-launched autonomous drone made by Area-I.” The Valkyrie is “an ‘attritable’ drone, the word the military uses for an asset that can be reused but is cheap enough that a commander would expect and be comfortable with a certain amount of losses while in combat.” Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division, “said the success of the ALTIUS release ‘adds an exclamation point to the 30-month development of the Valkyrie system by the Kratos and AFRL team, which resulted in a pre-production system with substantial operational capability, not simply a proof-of-concept flight demonstrator.’”
Full Story (Defense News)