Dynamically updated flight path live fused track for Lockheed Martin Embedded IRST
San Diego – September 19, 2022 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) uses the company-owned Avenger® MQ-20A unmanned aerial system to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) on Open Mission Systems (OMS) related to operations. I used a pilot to fly a military aircraft. ) software stack on September 12, 2022.
Avenger’s fully autonomous flight used an AI pilot for nearly 30 minutes as part of live, virtual, and constructive UAS swarm cooperation. The flight was part of GA-ASI’s ongoing commitment and investment in developing advanced AI and machine learning (ML) autonomy for UAS.
This flight utilized GA-ASI’s novel reinforcement learning (RL) architecture to develop and validate RL agents in a production-relevant environment. RL agents provide new and innovative tools for next-generation military platforms to make decisions under dynamic and uncertain real-world conditions. Teams flew “track and avoid maneuvers” with real-time updates to the flight path to avoid enemies using live fusion tracks. A live track was provided to the system using an infrared search and track (IRST) sensor network provided by Lockheed Martin.
“This flight was a resounding success, demonstrating a number of breakthrough capabilities in the race to operate Common Combat Aircraft (CCA) autonomy,” said Senior Program Senior Director at GA-ASI. Michael Atwood said. “As the complexity of the battlespace increases, it will be exciting to see how AI can be used to evolve how and where unmanned systems fly. and evasion” agent capabilities are the first step towards building an ecosystem of cooperative autonomous fighters. ”
TacIRST™ is a new class of multifunctional embedded sensor system with an open architecture. Developed by Lockheed Martin to provide a variety of capabilities for both manned and unmanned aircraft. Terry Horn, Director of Advanced Threat Alert Systems at Lockheed Martin, said: “We look forward to further collaboration and testing with GA-ASI.”
The team used the government-provided CODE autonomous engine and the government-standard OMS messaging protocol to enable communication between the RL agents and the Tactical IRST. Utilizing government standards such as CODE and OMS will enable rapid integration of cooperative fighter autonomy.
General Dynamics Mission Systems also provided critical technology for the flight. The mission computer used to host the OMS software is part of General Dynamics Mission Systems’ Digital Backbone Node (DBN) family of systems. The DBN architecture enables rapid and secure deployment of the evolving capabilities required for CCA through the application of a modern government open architecture, high-performance computing, advanced cooling, and high-speed backplanes with multi-level security. , to maximize cross-platform battlefield collaboration.
This flight is another in a series of ongoing automated flights being conducted by GA-ASI using internal R&D funding to prove advanced UAS key AI/ML concepts.
About GA-ASI
General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, designs and manufactures proven and reliable remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) systems, radar, electro-optical and related mission systems. A leading company. Predator® RPA series and Lynx® multimode radar. With more than 7 million flight hours, GA-ASI is a long-lasting endurance vehicle with the integrated sensor and data link systems necessary to achieve persistent flight that enables situational awareness and rapid strikes. and mission-capable aircraft. The company also manufactures various ground control stations and sensor control/image analysis software, provides pilot training and support services, and develops metamaterial antennas. For more information, please visit www.ga-asi.com. 
Avenger, Lynx, Predator, SeaGuardian and SkyGuardian are registered trademarks of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
