• US Air Force drone swaps AI software midflight in successful mission autonomy test Anduril’s YFQ-44A flew with Shield AI’s Hivemind and then switched to Lattice midair, demonstrating the Air Force’s modular CCA autonomy design • The US Air Force has moved a step closer to treating combat drone software like a swappable app • In a recent test flight, Anduril Industries demonstrated that its YFQ-44A Collaborative Combat Aircraft can switch between two separate mission autonomy systems while airborne • The aircraft completed evaluations with one software stack, then transitioned to another without landing, underscoring the service’s push for modular, plug-and-play autonomy under its Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA, program • Timothy Helfrich, portfolio acquisition executive for fighters and advanced aircraft, described the event during a panel discussion at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium • “What we did was we took we flew one mission autonomy [from] Shield AI, and then in the same flight, without landing, we went and pivoted to a second mission autonomy, same flight,” Helfrich said

Article Summaries:

  • US Air Force drone swaps AI software midflight in successful mission autonomy test Anduril’s YFQ-44A flew with Shield AI’s Hivemind and then switched to Lattice midair, demonstrating the Air Force’s modular CCA autonomy design. The US Air Force has moved a step closer to treating combat drone software like a swappable app. In a recent test flight, Anduril Industries demonstrated that its YFQ-44A Collaborative Combat Aircraft can switch between two separate mission autonomy systems while airborne. The aircraft completed evaluations with one software stack, then transitioned to another without l

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