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Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Navy, and General Atomics (GA) have trialed uncrewed system control by Carrier Aviation Mission Station (UMCS) in a live demonstration.
Skunk Works® MDCX™ autonomy steered GA MQ-20 Avenger through mission. The demo showcased advanced tech enabling crewed-uncrewed pairing for initiatives such as CCA.
The test marked a UMCS milestone, and paves the way for the Navy’s uncrewed aviation future. MDCX empowered Patuxent River pilots to guide California MQ-20 flight.
John Clark, Vice President and General Manager, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, said; “Skunk Works is proud to collaborate with the Navy to bring its Carrier Air Wing of the Future vision to life.
“The MDCX made it possible to rapidly integrate the MQ-20 ‘autonomy core’ with the UMCS, demonstrating common control capability and third-party platform integration.”
GA-ASI President David R. Alexander said; “Autonomous collaborative platforms that are mission capable with technologies that have been demonstrated at high readiness levels and the maturation of those technologies is just one of the focus areas for GA-ASI.
“This collaboration with the USN and Lockheed Martin advances the UMCS’s beyond line-of-sight capabilities, while demonstrating the maturity of our Tactical Autonomy Core Ecosystem (TacACE).”
Lt. Steven Wilster, MQ-25 AVP, said; “This was a huge step for unmanned naval aviation. This demo showcased UMCS’s first live control of an unmanned air vehicle, and it was great to be part of history in the making. The team is paving the way for integrating critical unmanned capability across the joint force to combat the high-end threat our warfighters face today and in the future.”
A Tri-Service Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has Navy leading DoD common control, GCS work with Lockheed Skunk Works. Further UMCS tests planned for autonomy, teaming advancement.
