While a Robo-Tanker Pilot is a Long Way Off, Everything Starts Somewhere

A lesser-known project from Merlin began doing some data collection flights with a KC-135 Stratotanker from MacDill AFB, gathering info about crew workload, tasking, and use cases for their future Merlin Pilot suite. They went on a pair of flights back to back, assessing tasks that pilots perform in the course of a normal tanker flight. The firm is reportedly assessing just where autonomy could actually make the most effective difference in improving safety, cost, and efficiency.

Army's New UAS Powerplant Looks Promising, with Increased TBO, Generation, and Power

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, in many ways America's flagship combat UAV manufacturer, has finished up durability testing on a new 200-hp engine. The firm calls it the "Heavy Fuel Engine (HFE) 2.0", designed to provide 2,500 hours between overhauls and chug along for long flights with nary a complaint. The final durability test put their test unit through a ringer of 1,250 full-power takeoffs and climbs, along with 200 hours of cruise with a fallback generator setup to simulate a worst-case loading condition. At the end of it all, General Atomics gave it the nod, setting it up for the Army's upcoming Multi-Domain Ops UAS. Now, it only needs one more 150-hour test and it can get the Army's final approval before moving down the production pipeline.

ANCILLARY Program Gets New Contender

AeroVironmen'ts Group 3 Wildcat is now being honed as one of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's inscrutably designated 'AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY' program. In typical DARPA try hard fashion, the program is probably more 'backronym' than 'acronym', but ANCILLARY is easier to remember so it makes sense why it stuck. AeroVironment is hoping its little Wildcat will be the most promising of the bunch, since it offers the right blend of endurance, payload, VTOL and landing performance while managing to host enhanced autonomy. AeroVironment knows that the hardware is only part of what makes a successful UAS these days, so they promise the inclusion of their SPOTR-Edge machine learning visual system as the cornerstone of the Wildcat's performance.

Engine Gremlins Flare Up for Second Operational Pause, But This Time It's (Probably) Fixed

The US Navy's T-45C Goshawk trainer is back in action, after a 1-month operational pause to assess an inflight engine mishap. The Navy's T-45C fleet can now return to duty, since a probe involving the Naval Air Systems Command and Naval Undergraduate Flight Training Systems Program Office showed evidence of parts failure, and not an issue with the fleet at large. Oddly enough, the pause wasn't the first one for the Goshawk, with another performed in 2022 for nearly the same issue.