WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force awarded defense technology firm Anduril Industries contracts totaling $8 million to refine the autonomous capabilities on two drone aircraft.
Anduril will work to hone the autonomy on its helicopter-like Ghost reconnaissance, security and force protection uncrewed aircraft and the recently unveiled enhanced version dubbed Ghost-X under these contracts, the corporate said Friday.
Anduril spokeswoman Sofia Haft said that the Air Force can even buy some Ghost aircraft as a part of this contract, but the corporate wouldn’t say what number of. The contracts can even allow Anduril to further refine Ghost’s hardware, she said, and develop specific autonomous behaviors for the aircraft to perform.
The Ghost contract shall be for 12 months, and the Ghost-X contract shall be for 18 months, Haft said.
Ghost-X made its debut Sept. 12 on the DSEI defense conference in London. Anduril said on the time that Ghost-X’s upgrades will allow it to fly longer than its predecessor, or as much as 75 minutes, and carry a payload of as much as 20 kilos, which could be roughly twice as much weight as the unique Ghost.
Anduril said Ghost-X was created using feedback from a spread of shoppers who’ve flown the unique Ghost for greater than 1,000 hours in a wide range of environments, including combat theaters.
One among those combat zones is Ukraine, Haft said, though the corporate wouldn’t say anything about how Ghost has been used there citing security concerns.
Ghost-X’s upgrades will give it a modular carriage that’s in a position to carry multiple payloads, and more resilience to operate in more difficult operational environments, Anduril said.
Ghost uses Anduril’s Lattice software to regulate its autonomous capabilities and fly largely by itself, the corporate said, allowing it to automate mission planning, manage its airspace, and conduct flight operations, lessening the burden on operators.
Anduril’s work with the Ghost drones under this contract will support the Air Force’s AFWERX innovation unit, which goals to assist industry develop technologies that might help counter threats worldwide. AFWERX in fall 2022 launched a brand new program called Autonomy Prime to collaborate with defense firms to push autonomous technologies forward and take a look at to show them into official programs of record.
Because the Air Force and Anduril work to further develop the Ghost aircraft, the corporate said airmen will modify government software, integrate it into Ghost’s open architecture autonomous programming, after which test how well it performs. Anduril said the open architecture structure would allow Ghost to be quickly modified to satisfy a commander’s needs and adjust to changes on the battlefield.
“The Ghost platform adapts to user needs with a versatile design that enables operators to integrate sensors, communications, navigation and other modular mission payloads,” Anduril said.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.