Northrop logs first flight for self-funded drone wingman

The Talon Blue drone makes its first flight. (Northrop photo)

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman’s internally developed drone wingman demonstrator has notched its first flight, according to a company press release .

The firm’s Talon Blue drone performed fully autonomous “taxi, takeoff, in-flight maneuvers and landing” during an undated test event, according to the release published Oct. 3 . The flight took place over the Mojave Desert in California.

“Talon Blue’s first flight is one step toward a new generation of autonomous capabilities,” Craig Woolston, vice president and general manager of research and advanced design at Northrop, said in the release. “Every flight and lesson strengthens our broader autonomy work and sharpens what comes next.”

Northrop has internally funded the drone to date, after the company lost out on previous Air Force contracts for Collaborative Combat Aircraft drone wingmen. Both Anduril and General Atomics were selected to build drones for the first round of the Air Force’s CCA program in June. Officials separately picked Anduril, Shield AI and RTX subsidiary Collins Aerospace to proceed under a parallel autonomy software competition.

Still, the government has expressed interest in the Talon Blue platform, and the Air Force has even designated the drone the YFQ-48A. Northrop emphasizes the drone’s modular design and says its weapons bay can support a variety of missions.

Northrop is also investing in the software side through the development of an autonomy suite dubbed Prism. The company has been testing the software on the Model 437 drone manufactured by its subsidiary Scaled Composites.

A company spokesperson did not immediately respond when asked to clarify whether Northrop flew the Talon Blue with its Prism software.

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A second round, or “increment,” of CCA drones is currently under development. Other companies such as Lockheed Martin have unveiled their own drone wingman designs, but have largely shied away from tying their offerings to specific programs.

“鹰爪蓝”无人机完成首飞。（诺斯罗普公司供图）

华盛顿——据诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司新闻稿称，该公司自主研发的无人机僚机演示器已完成首次飞行。

根据10月3日发布的新闻稿，该公司的Talon Blue无人机在一次未注明日期的测试活动中，实现了完全自主的“滑行、起飞、飞行中机动和着陆”。此次飞行是在加利福尼亚州的莫哈韦沙漠上空进行的。

诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司研发与先进设计副总裁兼总经理克雷格·伍尔斯顿在新闻稿中表示：“Talon Blue的首次飞行是迈向新一代自主能力的重要一步。每一次飞行和经验教训都加强了我们更广泛的自主研发工作，并为下一步工作奠定了基础。”

诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司此前曾竞标空军的协同作战飞机（CCA）无人机僚机合同，但最终落败。此后，该公司一直依靠内部资金研发无人机。今年6月，安杜里尔公司和通用原子公司均被选中参与空军CCA项目第一轮无人机建造。此外，空军官员还分别选定安杜里尔公司、Shield AI公司以及RTX旗下的柯林斯宇航公司，参与另一项自主软件的竞标。

尽管如此，美国政府仍对“蓝爪”（Talon Blue）平台表现出浓厚的兴趣，空军甚至已将该无人机命名为YFQ-48A。诺斯罗普公司强调了该无人机的模块化设计，并表示其武器舱可以支持多种任务。

诺斯罗普公司也在软件方面加大投入，开发了一套名为“棱镜”（Prism）的自主控制系统。该公司一直在其子公司Scaled Composites生产的437型无人机上测试该软件。

当被问及诺斯罗普公司是否使用其 Prism 软件对 Talon Blue 进行飞行测试时，该公司发言人没有立即作出回应。

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第二轮或称“增量”CCA无人机目前正在研发中。其他公司，例如洛克希德·马丁公司，也推出了各自的无人机僚机设计，但大多避免将产品与特定项目挂钩。