US Air Force Conducts Second Skyborg Flight Test Written 1 July 2021
Conceptual design of a Skyborg low cost attritable Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle. | USAF
Defense News reports that on June 24, the US Air Force “conducted a second flight test of the robot pilot known as Skyborg, which autonomously flew a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger drone.” The MQ-20 Avenger “flight took place during the Orange Flag exercise at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., over a period of about two hours and 30 minutes.” The service said in a statement that after a “human operator launched the Avenger drone and flew it to a safe altitude, it passed control of the aircraft to the” autonomy core system (ACS). The Air Force said that the “ACS accomplished basic aviation behaviors and responded to navigational commands, while reacting to geo-fences, adhering to aircraft flight envelopes, and demonstrating coordinated maneuvering.” Air Force “personnel at a nearby ground command and control station monitored the flight.”
Full Story (Defense News)