MQ-20 Avenger performs autonomy maneuvers with U.S. Navy control system
NewsNovember 08, 2024
SAN DIEGO, California. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) used its MQ-20 Avenger uncrewed aerial system (UAS) to execute commanded autonomy maneuvers as part of a demonstration with the U.S. Navy , the company announced in a statement.
The demonstration used the Navy’s MD-5 Ground Control Station (GCS) equipped with Lockheed Martin’s MDCX autonomy platform to command and control the MQ-20 Avenger via a Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) datalink, the statement reads. The MD-5 GCS operated from Patuxent River, Maryland, while the MQ-20 flew from GA-ASI’s Desert Horizon flight operations facility in El Mirage, California, according to the company.
The flight marked the first instance of bi-directional communication between GA-ASI’s MQ-20 and the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control Station (UMCS) operation codes, the company says, adding that the exercise demonstrated the UMCS’s ability to command various unmanned platforms, including autonomous behaviors, through a common control system.
The demonstration is part of ongoing efforts to advance technologies for Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), with the MQ-20 serving as a surrogate testbed for autonomous UAS development, the company says.
