U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Demonstrate First Live Control of an Uncrewed Air Vehicle

UMCS Achieves Milestone: First Live Control of Unmanned Air Vehicle

Lockheed Martin, in partnership with the U.S. Navy and General Atomics (GA), successfully executed the first-ever live control flight demonstration of an uncrewed air system (UAS) by the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control Station (UMCS).

Powered by the Skunk Works® MDCX™ autonomy platform, the UMCS controlled a GA MQ-20 Avenger UAS, completing a live flight mission. This significant achievement marks a crucial step toward enabling crewed and uncrewed teaming for future programs like CCA.

Key Technical Points:

• UMCS Control: The U.S. Navy Air Vehicle Pilots in Maryland remotely controlled the MQ-20 during its flight in California.

• MDCX Autonomy Platform: This platform facilitated rapid integration of the MQ-20's autonomy core with the UMCS, demonstrating common control capability and third-party platform integration.
  

• GA-ASI's Role: GA-ASI's Tactical Autonomy Core Ecosystem (TacACE) contributed to the UMCS's beyond line-of-sight capabilities.
  

• Tri-Service Collaboration: The U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps are collaborating on critical sub-systems for CCA platforms, with the Navy leading the development of a common control architecture and ground control station (GCS).
  

• Future Plans: The Navy will refine UMCS requirements based on this demonstration and conduct further flight tests to advance command and control technologies, autonomy, and crewed-uncrewed teaming.