The US Air Force is moving ahead with plans to add autonomy to its logistical aircraft for safer, lower-cost operation.
In a bid to achieve that, the service has awarded an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract leveraging the Reliable Robotics’ dual-use technology to provide advanced automation to United States Air Force (USAF) airlift and refueling aircraft.
The flexible IDIQ contract will span multiple years and advance the development, production, and deployment of Reliable’s autonomous flight system.
The contract is also a vehicle for the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX, and Reliable Robotics to explore partnerships with other branches of the military and combatant commands to scale and transition Reliable’s advanced automation technologies for specific use cases.
Longer duration operations
In its quest to develop innovative logistics capabilities, focusing on the Indo-Pacific, the USAF seeks commercial technologies like Reliable’s autonomous flight system to enable longer-duration operations in contested environments while increasing safety, reducing aircrew demands, and lowering procurement costs.
“Aircraft autonomy is a mission critical capability for the Department of the Air Force. This IDIQ contract is driven by demand from Air Mobility Command, Air Combat Command, Pacific Air Forces and commands that want to employ advanced aircraft automation in their fleets as soon as possible,” said Lt Col Josh Fehd, AFWERX Autonomy Prime Branch Chief.
Reliable has been collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX under SBIR contracts since 2021 and has demonstrated remote piloting during major exercises such as AGILE FLAG.
Reliable was also recently awarded competitive funding under the AFWERX Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) program.
Earlier this year, Reliable delivered a KC-135 Automation Roadmap commissioned by the USAF, validating that Reliable’s commercially developed technology can bring flexible advanced automation to all KC-135 air-to-air refueling operation phases.
“IDIQ contract award signals long-term engagement with the Air Force and provides flexibility for us to further demonstrate our autonomous flight system in operational readiness activities, explore automation of more aircraft and deploy production-ready capabilities,” said Dr. David O’Brien, Major General (Ret.), and Senior Vice President of Government Solutions at Reliable Robotics.
“In addition to automating the Cessna 208B Caravan and KC-135 Stratotanker, other aircraft like the Cessna 408 SkyCourier and ISR platforms may also be evaluated under this contract.”
Always on
Reliable’s safety-enhancing automation system is aircraft-agnostic and incorporates redundancy, high integrity navigation, and an “always on” autopilot that is engaged through all phases of aircraft operation , from taxi to takeoff to landing.
The dual-use automation solution converts existing commercial airframes into autonomous flight systems that can be configured for defense purposes.
With FAA oversight, Reliable demonstrated the remote operation of two aircraft types in civilian airspace with no one onboard: a Cessna 172 in 2019 and, more recently, a Cessna 208B Caravan in 2023.
Reliable has the most advanced program for full aircraft automation, with FAA acceptance of its certification plan in 2023 and further certification progress in 2024.
The company recently completed a series of automated missions across airfields in California and Nevada for the Department of the Air Force.
The series included automated flights of a Cessna 208B Caravan, including autotaxin, auto takeoff, en-route navigation, and auto landing.
All flights were managed by Reliable’s remote pilot while an onboard pilot monitored them. Reliable deployed a mobile control station at Mojave Air and Space Port, which served as a base of operations for the military exercise.
The rapid deployment of Reliable’s mobile control station enabled onsite demonstrations of the remote piloting side of the operation for Air Force and NASA personnel.
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