Military Embedded Systems

Exosonic initiates testing for EX-3M 'Trident' autonomous aerial system

News

May 24, 2023

Dan Taylor

Technology Editor

Military Embedded Systems

Exosonic initiates testing for EX-3M 'Trident' autonomous aerial system
Photo courtesy Exosonic

TORRANCE, California. The test program for Exosonic's autonomous unmanned aerial system (UAS), the EX-3M "Trident", has officially commenced and will include a series of ground and flight tests to validate its capabilities, the company announced in a statement.

The EX-3M Trident -- which the company describes as a open architecture, high-speed developmental UAS -- was produced in nine months and will act as a quarter-scale testbed for the autonomy software to be later incorporated into Exosonic's full-scale supersonic unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the EX-3 "Revenant", Exosonic says. This vehicle is being developed under a Small Business Innovation Research contract with the U.S. Air Force. There are also plans to examine a modified EX-3 version for adversary air role applications, the company says.

Testing of the EX-3M began at the New Cuyama UAS test range in California with a series of ground taxi tests to check taxi and takeoff characteristics before its scheduled summer 2023 flights. These upcoming flights aim to validate vehicle performance and autonomous capabilities, according to Exosonic.