GA-ASI and US Navy Fly MQ-20 Avenger Using MD-5 GCS To Perform Commanded Autonomy Manoeuvres
SAN DIEGO – 07 November 2024 – On November 5, 2024, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) used its MQ-20 Avenger® Unmanned Aircraft System to perform commanded autonomy maneuvers as part of a demonstration with the U.S. Navy (USN). The USN used its MD-5 Ground Control Station (GCS) with Lockheed Martin’s MDCX™ autonomy platform to command and control the jet-powered UAS. Working collaboratively with the USN and Lockheed Martin, the GA-ASI team successfully executed the flight demonstration over a Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) datalink.
The USN’s Unmanned Carrier Aviation program office PMA-268 used GA-ASI’s MQ-20 as a surrogate to demonstrate how its Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control Station (UMCS) can command a variety of unmanned aircraft. The MD-5 GCS was operated from the USN’s test facility at Patuxent River, Maryland, while the MQ-20 was flown out of GA-ASI’s Desert Horizon flight operations facility in El Mirage, California.
This flight was the first time a GA-ASI UAS completed bi-directional communications using the UMCS operation codes while performing autonomous behavior. The procedure was completed using the PLEO datalink.