GA-ASI Demonstrates Airborne MUM-T Using MQ-20 Avenge

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has successfully completed an airborne Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) demonstration. It paired a company-owned MQ-20 Avenger UAV with a modified King Air 200 as a surrogate for 4th- and 5th-generation tactical fighters.

The flight demonstrated autonomous collaboration using command and control (C2) of the Avenger from a ruggedized tactical control tablet, integrated with Autonodyne’s RCU-1000 Advanced Human Machine Interface, to provide real-time situational awareness combined with complex behaviour tasking. The airborne node utilized a GA-ASI-modified King Air 200, which allowed for rapid integration and test of the C2 hardware.

“GA-ASI continues to innovate by integrating state-of-the-art technology, providing combatant commanders with tested solutions for persistent, affordable air sensing with challenging target sets,” said Mike Atwood, senior director of advanced concepts at GA-ASI. “This flight builds on the previous long-wave IR passive autonomous testing, and continues to validate that persistent Group 5 UAS aircraft can perform complex Air Moving Target Indication (AMTI).”

The Avenger flight originated from GA-ASI’s Desert Horizon facility in the Mojave Desert and the King Air took off from Montgomery Airport in San Diego. The demo lasted for approximately two hours. The successful test proves the ability for GA-ASI MUM-T to command airborne assets while autonomously executing behaviours and missions that provide increased awareness and effectiveness to the warfighter.

The Australian Defence Force will acquire GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SkyGuardian armed UAV under Project AIR 7003.

Boston-based Autonodyne is a software AI company specializing in control and display of uncrewed vehicles across the air, land and sea domains. Principal products centre on Common Control Stations and autonomy software in a wide variety of use cases for both defence, government, and civil customers.