General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has flown live, tactical, air combat maneuvers using AI pilots to control a company-owned MQ-20 Avenger UAS. Collaborative maneuvers between human and AI pilots were conducted using GA-ASI's Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) collaborative combat aircraft ecosystem over a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) SATCOM provider's IP-based Mission Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) datalink. The LEO SATCOM connection was also used to rapidly retrain and redeploy AI pilots while the aircraft was airborne, demonstrating GA-ASI's ability to update AI pilots within minutes. This marks the first deployment of an LEO SATCOM provider connections running on an operationally relevant unmanned combat aerial vehicle platform. The team used two L3Harris Technologies RASOR Multi-Functional Processors (MFPs) – one that housed the transceiver card and another that controlled the BVLOS Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA).

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), a firm that provides drones and radar solutions for the US military, has released the first concept image for a missile-carrying air-to-air combat drone that can drop bombs in a war zone, engage in aerial threats or escort piloted plans into the battlefield. Part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) LongShot program, the system includes a manned craft that carries the unmanned aerial vehicle close to a warzone and then drops it mid-air to travel the rest of the way. GA-ASI notes that when carried by a bomber, the combat drone can clear the way for the piloted plane to carry out other missions without being attacked by enemy aerial vehicles. The new concept image shows a manned aircraft in the distance and a close look at the stealthy combat drone with a cockpit similar to a B-52 stealth bomber - but without the windows and a fraction of the size. There is a prominent V-shaped tail and a weapons bay on the side of the rear fuselage with two doors, The Drive reports.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has demonstrated the DARPA-developed Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) autonomy engine on the company's Avenger Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). CODE was used in order to gain further understanding of cognitive Artificial Intelligence (AI) processing on larger UAS platforms for air-to-air targeting. Using a network-enabled Tactical Targeting Network Technology (TTNT) radio for mesh network mission communications, GA-ASI was able to demonstrate integration of emerging Advanced Tactical Data Links (ATDL), as well as separation between flight and mission critical systems. During the autonomous flight, CODE software controlled the manoeuvring of the Avenger UAS for over two hours without human pilot input. GA-ASI extended the base software behavioural functions for a coordinated air-to-air search with up to six aircraft, using five virtual aircraft for the purposes of the demonstration.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has announced that on October 28, the firm tested one of its artificial intelligence (AI) driven Avenger drones. The release did not indicate where the test took place but it did emphasize that the drones were built in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). GA-ASI further noted that it used a government-supplied Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) autonomy engine, which was installed on the Avenger drone, in order to support air-to-air targeting missions. CODE was developed by DARPA to deal with the scalability and cost-effectiveness issues concerning unmanned aircraft systems operations. "DARPA's CODE program aims to overcome these limitations with new algorithms and software for existing unmanned aircraft that would extend mission capabilities and improve U.S. forces' ability to conduct operations in denied or contested airspace," read the project's webpage.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to develop enhanced autonomous sensing capabilities for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The JAIC Smart Sensor project aims to advance drone-based AI technology by demonstrating object recognition algorithms and employing onboard AI to automatically control UAV sensors and direct autonomous flight. GA-ASI will deploy these new capabilities on a MQ-9 Reaper UAV equipped with a variety of sensors, including GA-ASI's Reaper Defense Electronic Support System (RDESS) and Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). GA-ASI's Metis Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) tasking and intelligence-sharing application, which enables operators to specify effects-based mission objectives and receive automatic notification of actionable intelligence, will be used to command the unmanned aircraft. J.R. Reid, GA-ASI Vice President of Strategic Development, commented: "GA-ASI is excited to leverage the considerable investment we have made to advance the JAIC's autonomous sensing objective. This will bring a tremendous increase in unmanned systems capabilities for applications across the full-range of military operations."