General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and the U.S. Air Force held another autonomy flight exercise yielding new and important developments in the operation of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). The February 24 demonstration featured the latest government Autonomy Start Kit (ASK) and a GA-ASI MQ-20 Avenger^® uncrewed jet was used as a testbed CCA. The demonstration proved the aircraft’s ability to use a tactical proliferated low-earth orbit data link for seamless coordination with autonomy behaviors with complex infrared sensing as part of a large force exercise.

The MQ-20 performed Infrared (IR) sensing with Single Ship Ranging (SSR) and engagement using GA-ASI’s TacPad Pilot Vehicle Interface (PVI). GA-ASI’s TacACE^® (Tactical Autonomy Ecosystem) — built with and aligned with ASK — demonstrated passive target localization using SSR with an Infrared Search and Track (IRST) sensor, enabling the uncrewed jet to autonomously estimate target range and track airborne threats without active radar emissions. This capability enables stealthy sensor-to-shooter kill chains, allowing GA-ASI aircraft to detect, classify, and localize targets while remaining fully passive, which is critical for operations in denied and contested electromagnetic environments.

“Integrated within the TacACE’s modular skills library, SSR supports autonomous mission execution, cooperative targeting, and distributed kill chains, advancing the role of autonomous aircraft in future air combat and CCA operations. This flight was part of a large forces exercise and allowed internal investment to showcase GA-ASI’s capabilities,” said Mike Atwood, Vice President of Advanced Programs for GA-ASI.

GA-ASI’s MQ-20 Avenger uncrewed jet has served as a surrogate CCA for more than five years, both before and since the arrival of its purpose-built XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station and YFQ-42A CCA jets.